Rockpool Dining Group has headed to The Hills, open its ninth Sydney outpost of The Bavarian. The 350-seat German-style restaurant opened in May at the Rouse Hill Town Centre, and it brought its oversized beers, food platters and sports-screening televisions along with it. The beer hall boasts 17 taps — think German mainstays like Löwenbräu, Stiegl and Hofbräu and local brews by Urban Craft Brewing — along with an outdoor beer garden. The fit-out will follow suit of the brand's existing venues and will include stone walls, alpine timber finishes, beer barrel tables and a stein chandelier, plus bar-side dining. Those massive, litre-sized beer steins that The Bavarian is known for serving are accompanied by hearty dishes like crispy pork knuckle with sauerkraut and creamy mash, or crackling pork belly with onion bier jus; plus a range of gourmet sausages, giant pretzels, share platters and loaded schnittys — from American, Mexican and Hawaiian to one that weighs an insanely hefty one-kilogram. Weekday deals include $15 lunch specials, all-you-can-eat meat platters on Mondays and two-for-one cocktails on Thursdays, along with a daily $5 drinks happy hour from 4–7pm. Apart from food and booze, The Bavarian is a go-to for watching sports, with several extra-large screens available throughout the space. Rockpool Dining Group — which was formed when Urban Purveyor Group acquired Neil Perry's Rockpool Group — has signed 15 new leases in the last 90 days, so we'll surely be hearing about more openings in the months to come. The Rouse Hill location not only marks the ninth across Sydney but is one of six additional Bavarians slated to open across the country in the next few months, including another in Castle Hill. So while it isn't necessarily new or breaking new ground, it is a significant opening for the suburb.
The QVB's second-level restaurant Esquire is serving up more than food and wine at its Sydney Solstice event. In fact, it's dishing up an evening that's set to go beyond the veil. At the venue's Smoke & Mirrors Wine Dinner, you and your friends will be whisked away and wow-ed by mentalist Andy Nunn and magicians Vincent Kuo and Adam Axford. Prepare to have your mind read before diving into a four-course menu of twice-roasted duck, slow-braised wagyu and a bombe alaska, all paired with local wines. Then, you'll get a second dose of dessert in the form of gravity-defying tricks. Image: Damian Flanagan
Stay tuned. More info coming soon.
Three artists at the MOP Gallery right now are showing works which play with profiles. Heath Franco plays with video in PARK LAND — three televisions surround you at ground level, while two projected images meet in the crevice of a wall to make one images or two, as the moment dictates. It gives you an experience that feels about as reassuring as The Mighty Boosh feels hygenic. Figures are profiled and superimposed across the landscapes, chanting, talking or looking at you at the centre: a dog headed person, a bird, a pink goggled woman. It's confessional, harranging and uncomfortable. For all the apparent focus on the visual, the voices talking, screaming and everyday comments layer up into a rhythmic aural landscape. Kate Scardifield's The Whole and the Sum of Its Parts plays with silhouettes. Her mostly 2-D cut outs feature women's faces and figures, and jagged coronas on heads and bellies. Coronas being broken free of by figures of women escaping from the wall with knives and syringe. Two-dimensional shadow bodies splayed out like a dissected frog, with Frida Khalo hearts. Camille Serisier has a three series of images across the third gallery — Breath of Life, Hand of God and Animal Offerings. The breath of life presents five people in expressive profile, each one breathing their life out as things: ships, cats hamburgers, chocolates, tomatoes, guitars, hamburgers, pandas, mushrooms. The lives on the wall branch out like vines, or rising steam — or the forking paths of actual lives. The Hand of God offers everyday things — like vodka or condoms — with the illuminated auras of saints or communist heroes. Animal Offerings, meanwhile, collects Seriesier's animal drawings. All three artists have something to offer — but Serisier's spoken dreams and the crooked lines of Scardifield's women present faces and figures that are especially hard to forget.
When October rolls around each year, the two-kilometre Bondi–Tamarama coastal walk usually becomes home to a huge free outdoor sculpture exhibition, with the always busy Sculpture by the Sea placing its latest works along the shoreline. But in 2020, that didn't happen. In fact, it won't happen at all this year. Sculpture by the Sea organisers have advised that the popular event won't next unveil its artworks until the beginning of 2021 — at the earliest. Going ahead depends upon receiving an exemption from NSW Health, which hasn't been received so far, hence the delay. Back in April, organisers actually advised that this year's event would forge ahead as usual. Of course, as 2020 has taught us again and again, things can change very quickly. In late September, it was revealed that Sculpture by the Sea wouldn't be able to keep its October date, but was hoping to take place either later in 2020 or early in 2021 — with the latest announcement today, Wednesday, November 4, confirming the latter. "With the announcement some months ago that New South Wales would welcome back major events this spring we hoped it would also be possible to stage the exhibition," said Sculpture by the Sea founding director David Handley AM in a statement. Now, the event's team are "looking ahead to see what might be possible early next year". Sculpture by the Sea will still be unveiling something in 2020, however: a yet-to-be-revealed large sculpture that will be placed on the end of the south Bondi headland in mid-November. It's designed to be a beacon of hope in this challenging year not just for the event, but for everyone. [caption id="attachment_747801" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Sculpture by the Sea 2019 by Trent Van der Jagt[/caption] In 2019, the Sculpture by the Sea attracted approximately 450,000 visitors over three weeks, with crowds that size obviously posing a sizeable social distancing problem during the COVID-19 pandemic. It has been an eventful year or so for Sculpture by the Sea, even before the current global health situation hit. To rewind a little, in mid-2019, organisers were at loggerheads with the Council over the construction of a new path, and were scoping out alternative locations for the long-running art exhibition. Indeed, it was only earlier this year that the parties came to an agreement to remain in Bondi — not just this year, but at least until 2030, with the organisers and Council agreeing to a ten-year deal. Sculpture by the Sea is aiming to take place sometime in early 2021, with rescheduled dates not yet announced, on the Bondi–Tamarama coastal walk. For more information, head to sculpturebythesea.com. Top image: Sculpture by the Sea 2019 by Trent Van der Jagt
January 2014 will see Sarah Blasko embark on a short but surely sweet Heavenly Sounds tour, with the singer-songwriter choosing a restrained program of just four shows in four churches across Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne and Adelaide. The tour will be the final round of performances celebrating her ARIA-nominated fourth studio album, I Awake. Loyal fans might have already witnessed the ideal pairing of the singer's ethereal tones and cathedral acoustics back in 2011, when her collaborative side project Seeker Lover Keeper (with Sally Seltmann and Holly Throsby) launched Heavenly Sounds. Now’s your chance to settle back amongst the stained glass and enjoy a night of pure Blasko. "These will be my last shows for I Awake, and really, what better place is there to sing (apart from the shower of course) than a beautiful church?" says Blasko. "I'll be playing songs from all four albums and it's likely to be the most intimate show of mine you'll see for some time."
The inner west's much-loved Newtown Festival returns this November, with a huge day of community, art, music and food. Brainchild of the Newtown Neighbourhood Centre (NNC), the event's main aim is to raise funds and drum up support for those doing it tough in the area. It's also a great excuse for people to get together and show some love for a unique pocket of the world. Taking over Camperdown Memorial Park on Sunday, November 10, this year's outing sees the return of a bunch of festival favourites, including the Heaps Gay Karaoke Closet (a tent dedicated to dress ups and lots of karaoke, of course), the Eco Village and the ever-popular Sassy Treats Dog Show, celebrating all of those four-legged festival-goers. There'll be a sprawling collection of over 200 stalls, selling everything from food to fashion, more than 100 live, roaming performers and a music lineup showcasing artists who've each got their own strong connection to the Newtown community. You'll catch The Delta Riggs, Godtet, Lola Scott, The Buoys and the Sorcha Albuquerque Organ Trio, as well as a few more, too. In the lead up to the festival, NNC will also host a series of gigs, live street art performances and open air movie screenings. More details on that is dropping soon — we'll let you know when it does. Newtown Festival's $5 entry fee, collected at the gates, goes directly to the NNC, which provides support services for disadvantaged groups in the local community. Newtown Festival runs from 9.30am–5.30pm Image: James Simpson and Kirsten Muller
For a few nights in May, The Annandale Hotel will be taken over by bourbon cocktails, burgers and art by some of Australia's most impressive young artists. Sip on a Wild Turkey Kentucky Firebird — a bourbon cocktail that's been live-smoked with American oak wood chips, and combines bitter and sweet with Grand Marnier, Cinzano Rosso and Maraschino. Josh Arthurs (of the legendary burger pop-up Burgers by Josh) will be serving up a bourbon burger to match. The Wild South Burger (inspired by turkey and bourbon) is loaded with wagyu beef, chipotle mayo, sweet and sour pickles and Wild Turkey peach and barbecue sauce. There will be some barrels about, too — decorated with a unique gallery of artworks from Australian artists including ARIA award-winning musician Bertie Blackman, street artist and sculptor Will Coles (he's the guy who sculpts washing machines and balaclavas into the city) and mixed-media legend Nikolaus Dolman. It's all to celebrate leading Australian talent who embody the ethos of 'doing things your way', just like three generations of the Russell family have done in creating Wild Turkey American bourbon for over 100 years with their own traditional distilling process. Really, it's just a good chance for you to see some great art, try out a few bourbon cocktails and eat a delicious burger at the Annandale Hotel.
"Didn't seem fair on the young lad. That suit at the funeral. With the braces on his teeth, the supreme discomfort of the adolescent." That's how what just might be your favourite new novel of 2024 starts. The book in question? Intermezzo by Sally Rooney. The acclaimed Irish author, who previously penned Conversations with Friends, Normal People and Beautiful World, Where Are You, will release her fourth tome on Tuesday, September 24, 2024. It arrives three years after her last, which also hit three years after Normal People. And if you're already wondering if it will get the TV treatment, as Normal People did first — and made everyone obsessed with Paul Mescal in the process — then Conversations with Friends, it's obviously too early to answer that. Cross your fingers, though. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Faber Books (@faberbooks) Intermezzo will follow two brothers, Peter and Ivan Koubek, as they're grieving the loss of their father's death. The former is in his 30s and a successful Dublin lawyer, but turns to medication to sleep to cope with his loss. The latter is 22 and plays chess competitively. Peter also has complicated bonds with two women, his first love Sylvia and college student Naomi — which will sound familiar to Rooney fans — while Ivan meets the older Margaret not long after his dad's passing. "For two grieving brothers and the people they love, this is a new interlude — a period of desire, despair and possibility — a chance to find out how much one life might hold inside itself without breaking," says the official blurb for the book. "Intermezzo is a story of brothers and lovers, of familial and romantic intimacies, of relationships that don't quite fit the conventional structures," explains Alex Bowler, the book's publisher at Faber & Faber in the UK. "After three miraculous books, Sally Rooney's millions of readers will recognise the beauty and insight, the pain and hope that radiates from this new novel. But it marks an exquisite advance, too, in the work of a writer who seems so attuned to our lives, our hearts and our times." [caption id="attachment_842444" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Enda Bowe/Hulu[/caption] Intermezzo will be published on Tuesday, September 24, 2024. For further details, head to publisher Faber & Faber's website. Images: Normal People / Conversations with Friends.
Remember being bored? Filling your time with TikTok challenges, cruising from beach to beach on a road trip, or gliding along a promenade in your favourite pair of skates? Those peak summer vibes are what we're craving now that autumn has kicked into gear and we've swapped slides for sensible shoes. But, you don't have to live in the moment. At least not all day. Together with our friends at TikTok, we've picked out five sunshine-filled videos that capture that endless summer feeling so you can tap into it anytime you like. Go on, have a taste. [embed]https://www.tiktok.com/@teigan_nash/video/6785796678071979270[/embed] Former Saturday Disney host Teigan Nash has been keeping busy over summer with a couple of pals in the pool. Here she's taking on The Avengers pool challenge and totally nailing it. If you're wondering, Teigan is second from the front. Follow @teigan_nash for more wholesome, Australia-loving content. [embed]https://www.tiktok.com/@zulfiyeah/video/6892730698013216002[/embed] Effortlessly gliding through a Victorian car park, Zülfiye here is the boss of eight-wheeling through summer. She can waltz, shoot hoops, strut and 'Buss It', too. Most of all, she's crushing it on a pair of skates at every rink, wharf and promenade in Melbourne. And we're here for those feel-good vibes. [embed]https://www.tiktok.com/@aimeemassie/video/6894703521560579330[/embed] Newcastle-born pro skater Aimee Massie has serious board skills, as any#skatergirl would already know. Here, she's proving something we already knew: we don't need skater bois and we certainly don't need the everyday sexism Aimee is calling out in her TikTok videos. We see you Massie and we're loving your work. [embed]https://www.tiktok.com/@pnuks/video/6784646050956332294[/embed] If we could bottle up "Almost there. Almost there. Have a break" from Paniora Nukunuku we'd use it as daily inspo in the office. The Sydney-based social influencer is a youth worker and advocate for giving people a fair go. Here, @pnuks gives us a joyful take on having a fake leg on a spicy hot summer's day at the beach. We can almost feel the heat. [embed]https://www.tiktok.com/@pachalight/video/6901777782364310786[/embed] Is there anything better than a dunk in the ocean? How about doing it with a great big grin on your face because you've found a job you love and you live it every day? That's the vibe we're picking up from Aussie surfer Pacha Light. The emerging pro is based on the Gold Coast and here she's channelling pure summertime happiness. We love it. Download TikTok to watch more summer-loving videos. Top image: Pexels; Larry Snickers
Glass, by director M. Night Shyamalan, concludes a trilogy nobody knew was a trilogy until the final moments of his previous film, Split. What at first seemed a fun and, at times, disturbing thriller about a split-personality kidnapper (played by a terrific James McAvoy) suddenly presaged an entirely new world of superheroes in the vein of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Harking all the way back to Shyamalan's 2000 film Unbreakable, Glass is the film designed to bring together the stories of McAvoy's unhinged killer, Bruce Willis's reluctant hero and Samuel L Jackson's evil genius. It's a two decade project and a gutsy effort to try something new. Unfortunately, the finished product fails to live up to the alluring concept. A quick refresher. Unbreakable brought together two fascinating characters in the form of comic book expert Elijah Price (Jackson) and sports stadium security guard David Dunn (Willis). Dunn is the sole and miraculous survivor of a horrific train crash from which he emerged entirely unscathed. He's a soulful and introverted family man, and it's not until Price contacts him that he realises he's never been sick or injured his entire life. Price, by contrast, is wheelchair bound, a sufferer of a brittle bone disease that makes him, effectively, as fragile as glass. Price's theory is that if he's as weak as humanity permits, it stands to reason someone must be his direct opposite; a man who is, essentially, unbreakable. Then in 2016 came Split and the introduction of The Horde (McAvoy), a collective name for the many personalities embodying the hapless Kevin Wendell Crumb. Chief amongst them is The Beast, an abnormally strong and animalistic entity capable of scaling sheer walls and even ceilings. If Dunn is the superhero, then The Beast is the super villain. Glass ties these characters together by locking all three up in a mental institute under the care of psychiatrist Dr. Ellie Staple (Sarah Paulson). Her speciality is illusions of grandeur manifesting in the belief that its sufferers are superheroes, and the film does an impressive job of sewing doubt in both the characters' and audience's mind that everything we've seen to date might be explained away by simple science. It's an enticing counterpoint to the conventional superhero narrative, which tells us they simply exist and that's that. Here, Shyamalan continues his preoccupation with how one might become a superhero. It's a trilogy-long origin story, grounded in the lore and mythology of comic books. Fascinating as that idea is, however, the movie spends far too long footnoting itself, going to pains to explain again and again how its events track the narrative arc of any comic. It's as if Shyamalan is desperate to ensure you know how clever his idea is, and all you want to do is yell back at the screen: IT'S OKAY! WE GET IT! MOVE ON! Admittedly, it is clever. The idea that superheroes do exist, but are also very human and only marginally more enhanced and capable than everyone else represents an appealing and refreshing take on the genre. And yet the film's theoretical strength is also its practical weakness. The climactic clash between Dunn and The Beast feels entirely lacklustre and unimpressive in a world now accustomed to such scenes frequently involving the levelling of entire cities. Mass destruction can be tiresome as well, of course, but surely there's room for something in between? In Glass, the characters are a far cry from Superman, Thor or The Hulk. Consequently most of their fighting consists of the pair locked arm-in-arm like a dull MMA bout. There are flourishes of brilliance – Beast's inhuman gallop across a field being amongst the best – but they're far too infrequent. Ultimately though, the biggest problem with Glass is that it's far too preoccupied with explaining itself as it goes. And so while the journey is enjoyable enough, the final feeling is that a great opportunity has been missed. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95ghQs5AmNk
Love celebrating holidays — even if they hail from the other side of the world? Maybe you're a homesick North American looking for something that reminds you of home? Then no doubt you're looking forward to US holiday Thanksgiving, which falls on November 25. Lucky for you, Cheers! Spirits From the USA is partnering with leading venues across the nation, helping us Aussies celebrate the day. This week until Sunday, 28 November, select bars in Sydney will be turning happy hour into 'thanksgiving hour' by offering a range of thanksgiving-themed cocktails for you to cheers over. The brand has collaborated with innovative Australian bartenders to create an exciting cocktail list that showcases classic American spirits such as Angel's Envy Bourbon, Westward Whiskey and Woodford Reserve. There are eight participating Sydney venues: Maybe Sammy, Kittyhawk, Burdekin Rooftop, Burrow Bar, Gin Lane, Grain Bar, NOLA Smokehouse and The Swinging Cat. So, head on down, grab yourself a festive cocktail and cheers to being able to celebrate IRL with mates again. [caption id="attachment_833763" align="alignnone" width="1920"] The Swinging Cat[/caption] For more information on Thanksgiving Hour, head to the Cheers! From the USA website. And you can even follow the events on Instagram. Top image: The Burdekin, Billy Zammit
If anyone wanted a big case of déjà vu for Christmas, it's arrived, with COVID-19 cases rising again across New South Wales. And, in response, the NSW Government has changed the state's mask rules to bring back mandatory face coverings indoors. As announced today, Thursday, December 23, wearing masks in inside spaces will become compulsory again at 11.59pm tonight — so, effectively from Friday, December 24. Sydneysiders, that means covering up your smile is now part of your Christmas plans. Face masks will be mandatory inside for all Sydneysiders, in all indoor settings other than homes. Density limits are also back for hospitality — with the one person per two square metre ruled applicable from Monday, December 27 to Thursday, January 27. No other restrictions are being introduced at present; however, Sydneysiders are being encouraged to work from home if they need to work over the festive season. New South Wales reported 5715 new cases today on Thursday, December 23, with 347 people currently in hospital. For those looking to get tested, you can find a list of testing sites including regularly updated waiting times also on the NSW Health website. For more information about the status of COVID-19 and the current restrictions, head over to the NSW Health website.
With international travel expected to be off the cards until mid-2022, and Australians encouraged to spend their holiday dollars at home to help the country's tourism industry, the 2021–22 Federal Budget is committing a hefty amount of cash to roads, rail and infrastructure projects. Aiming to support the nation's economic recovery from the pandemic, and boost jobs in the process, the Budget allocates $15.2 billion over the next ten years as part of an overall $110 billion spend across the same period. The Great Western Highway between Katoomba to Lithgow ($2 billion), Victoria's Monash ($250 million) and Pakenham ($380 million) roads, and Queensland's Bruce Highway ($400 million) are just some of the stretches of road that'll receive upgrades. So will the Great Eastern Highway in Western Australia ($200 million), the North-South Corridor from Darlington to the Anzac Highway in South Australia ($2.6 billion), the Midland Highway in Tasmania ($113.4 million) and the Northern Territory National Highway ($150 million). Announced last night, on Tuesday, May 11, this year's Federal Budget commits $3.8 billion in new spending to New South Wales, $3.4 billion to Victoria, $2 billion to Queensland, $1.6 billion to WA, $3.4 billion to SA, $377.2 million to Tasmania, $401 million to the NT and $186.2 million to the Australian Capital Territory. If some of the above projects sound familiar, that's because part of the cash has been allocated to works currently underway — but as a new funding commitment. Also covered: the Princess Highway Corridor in Jervis Bay ($500 million), and the M5 ($87.5 million) and M12 motorways ($229.4) in NSW; the Melbourne Intermodal Terminal ($2 billion), as part of the national freight network; the third stage of the Gold Coast Light Rail ($126.6 million); and stage 2A of the Canberra Light Rail ($132.5 million). The Budget also includes $1 billion to extend the Local Roads and Community Infrastructure Program to 2022–23 — which, as its name suggests, is all about supporting local councils to deliver local road and community infrastructure projects — as well as another $1 billion to continue the Road Safety Program into the same year. For more information about the 2021–22 Federal Budget, head to the government's website. Top image: Kgbo via Wikimedia Commons.
In the United States, Deadpool is officially the second highest-grossing R-rated film of all time, coming in just behind The Passion of the Christ. It's a point made directly to the audience during one of Deadpool 2's many fourth-wall-shattering moments, at once justifying the movie's own existence and letting us know that it knows that sequels usually suck. This particular follow-up, however, is definitely one fans were clamouring for. And they'll be delighted to find it once again delivers an outlandish blend of deeply meta comedy and ultra-violent action. Returning to don the Deadpool mask/burn victim makeup is Canadian newcomer and former Corrs percussionist Ryan Reynolds, whose talent for switching between dry sarcasm and affecting sincerity makes him perhaps uniquely qualified to steer such an unconventional character and film. This time round his alter-ego Wade Wilson finds himself on the cusp of parenthood, only to have the chance tragically wrenched away during the film's unexpected opening scenes (a surprise neatly reflected in the James Bond-style titles sequence featuring credits such as: 'Written By: the real villains of this film' and 'Starring: someone who clearly doesn't like sharing the limelight'). Seeking redemption, Wade first tries (and fails) to join the X-Men Who Aren't Popular Enough To Be Official X-Men, before finding himself tasked with protecting a troubled orphan named Russell (Julian Dennison) from the time-travelling assassin Cable (Josh Brolin). On paper, at least, it's a fairly conventional plot for a franchise that altogether mocks convention – to say nothing of the fact it also largely mirrors the storyline from last year's critically-acclaimed and patently better Logan (starring the unforgettable Hugh Jackman). But Deadpool 2 navigates this issue by peppering its script with literally hundreds of in-jokes, 80s references and endless winks to the audience. Admittedly they don't all land, but as the Inuit saying goes: swing at every pitch and you'll at least hit a few out of the park. Alongside Reynolds are most of the original film's key cast members, including Karan Soni, Leslie Uggams, Morena Baccarin and T.J. Miller. Opposite them, Marvel's current villain-du-jour Josh Brolin delivers the same reserved menace as Cable that he did as Infinity War's Thanos, albeit without the chin scars that make it look like he fell asleep on Roger Federer's racquet. Zazie Beetz of Atlanta fame also joins the team as the scene-stealing Domino, whose superpower is pizzas delivered fresh within 30 minutes or your money back, guaranteed. The challenge for director David Leitch (Atomic Blonde, John Wick) is to make fun of comic-book movies while still delivering one worth watching. As an exercise in subversion Deadpool 2 doesn't quite achieve the same level of success as the first film, opting too often to undermine its genre staples by prefacing them with glib one-liners. More successful are the jokes that take place during those sequences, or – even better – the darker twists this film puts on them without an accompanying gag. At one point, for example, Deadpool blocks a gun shot with his hand, only to then slide his now-gaping wound along the barrel and turn it on its handler to shoot him in the head. It's the kind of shocking violence you'll never see in a conventional Marvel movie and yet perfectly conforms to this character's unique, twisted style of problem solving. Thankfully, there are more than enough examples of this kind of gory comedy to keep Deadpool 2 comfortably in the successful column, right down to the closing credits scenes that sit amongst the movie's funniest moments. It may not be the romcom we deserve, but it's the one we need right now, and it's definitely worth your time. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D86RtevtfrA
There's something refreshing about these particular angsty youths. They show so little sign of that neologism-spinning, tech-tuned, so-sharp-you'll-cut-yourself dialect contrived for young characters and expected of young authors, they're practically real people. Their references are less Facebook, more Sendak. They don't talk like they're texting, but their lives are tied to a mobile phone in another, primal way. Abandoned immediately after moving to a new London apartment, nearly 16-year-old Eliot (Miles Szanto), 14-year-old Maggie (Airlie-Jane Dodds) and six-year-old Finn (on opening, Kai Lewins; Zac Ynfante alternates) are waiting and hoping for their mother to ring. Their equally precocious 22-year-old creator, Polly Stenham, lauded for her debut That Face, knows them well and has them care for each other while harbouring conflicting agendas that bring them to the brink of Lord of the Flies-esque terrain. Their sheer kid-ness manifests in their enjoyment of silly voices, their easy slips into make-believe and their hormone-driven hysterics. They have the uninhibited physical play of siblings, and, left to their own rule, they turn night into day, subsist on chips and cold takeaway and definitely don't unpack the boxes that surround them. But as time passes, the mystery of their missing mother and the imperative to keep their situation hidden overwhelms them. The tension claws ever-upward throughout the first half of Tusk Tusk. It's woven by softly dropped references and stunning moments of light and shade and pulled tight by a sudden, grisly incident before intermission. Stenham's scripting is assured, but it wouldn't hold without the anchoring of its leads. As well as all being believable, Szanto is charismatic as Eliot, Lewins is cute and scarily capable as Finn, and Dodds is basically a hypnotist as Maggie. Thrash-pop scene changes and beautiful morning-to-night lighting complete their world. Unfortunately, the delicate pacing of the first half burns out by the second, which collapses in screaming and histrionics and does not deliver the fleshy denouement needed to match the richness of the mystery. Stay to the end, though; these kids deserve your attention. In her short oeuvre, Stenham may have settled on a theme — upper-middle class people have trashy lives, too! — but it's one she's doing well.
Dark Mofo might be taking a breather in 2024, but Tasmania's Museum of Old and New Art (MONA) will still be embracing summer at Mona Foma. The sunny counterpart to the Apple Isle's moody winter fest has locked in its 2024 return from Thursday, February 15 to Sunday, February 25 in nipaluna/Hobart and from Thursday, February 29 to Saturday, March 2 in Launceston. It has also dropped one helluva getaway-worthy lineup. [caption id="attachment_923130" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Andreas Neumann[/caption] Back in October, Queens of the Stone Age were revealed as the first act on Mona Foma's program for the year. They're joined by Courtney Barnett, TISM, Paul Kelly, Mogwai, Shonen Knife and Cash Savage and The Last Drinks, for starters. If you don't know where to start, the quintessential Mona Foma experience is the Mona Sessions. On the evenings of Friday, February 23 to Sunday, February 25, you can catch live music from international artists on the sprawling museum lawns. Arrive on a camouflage ferry before exploring one of Australia's most innovative museums. Then, enjoy back-to-back performances by Scottish rockers Mogwai and Japanese band Shonen Knife, joined by fellow overseas talents Holy Fuck, Wednesday, Michael Rother + Friends (playing Neu! songs) and Lonnie Holley with Moor Mother and Irreversible Entanglements. Now that TISM are back playing live together, the Australian legends will bust out 'Greg! The Stop Sign!', 'Whatareya' and 'Ol' Man River' at Cataract Gorge. The Ron Hitler-Barassi-led band are part of a free one-day event at the stunning site during Mona Foma's Launceston weekend, as are Cash Savage and The Last Drinks. Head along and you'll also enjoy morning meditations to start the day and hear from Mulga Bore Hard Rock and FFLORA + Grace Chia. [caption id="attachment_926553" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Steve Cook[/caption] More on the music program: Darren Hanlon, Bree van Reyk and the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra are teaming up; French Korean siblings Isaac et Nora will perform Latin-American songs they've learned by ear; and Barelona-based producer Filastine and Indonesian singer Nova will provide live tunes on a 70-tonne sailing ship to muse on the climate crisis. DJs will get spinning beneath James Turrell's Armana at Mona and artists will be hitting up the Frying Pan Studios to jam and record. Emeka Ogboh's contribution to the festival is another big highlight. In the immersive exhibit Boats, the Nigerian artist ponders migration in a sensory experience that boasts its own gin — made with native Tasmanian and West African botanicals — alongside snacks, conversation and a sound installation. [caption id="attachment_926554" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Wei-Tsan Liu[/caption] Also set to impress: Taiwanese artist Yahon Chang will be painting on a 20-by-15-metre canvas at Princes Wharf 1 with a human-sized brush in a performance that'll blend calligraphy, art, meditation, kung fu and tai chi. Other program standouts include the world premiere of Justin Shoulder's Anito; Dancenorth's latest production Wayfinder, which includes Hiromi Tango on design duties and music from Hiatus Kaiyote; the return of party venue Faux Mo at The Granada Tavern; and a Street Eats food and drink market pop-up with a lineup of musical guests. [caption id="attachment_784488" align="alignnone" width="1920"] MONA/Jesse Hunniford, Robin Fox laser installation at the Albert Hall, Launceston, Mona Foma 2019[/caption] Nab your tickets now at the Mona Foma website. You can also book your getaway package through Concrete Playground Trips. Top images: Moshcam, Pooneh Ghana, Akira Shibata. All images courtesy of the artist and Mona Foma.
UPDATE, April 1, 2021: The Wild Goose Lake is available to stream via Binge, Amazon Prime Video, Stan, Foxtel Now, Google Play and YouTube Movies. If you only watch one sultry, sprawling, neon-lit Chinese film noir this year — one where umbrellas are deployed as lethal weapons, zoo animals bear witness to a shootout and strangers dance in the street in glowing sneakers to Boney M's 'Rasputin' — make it The Wild Goose Lake. To be fair, no other feature will match that exact description anytime soon. No other movie will make a routine police search of a half-demolished building look like a real-world diorama, either, or watch as a character turns the tricky art of self-bandaging into an acrobatic performance. From its yellow-tinted opening frames, where two strangers meet outside a train station in drizzling rain, Diao Yinan's first film since 2014's acclaimed Black Coal, Thin Ice firmly carves its own visual niche. That's one of the evocatively shot gangster flick's charms. Spread across speedy motorcycle chases and frenetic underground brawls, too, these eye-catching images all tell the story of mob heavy Zhou Zenong (Hu Ge) and 'bathing beauty' Liu Aiai (Gwei Lun-mei). Following a mass underworld meetup to discuss stealing techniques, an impromptu contest dubbed "the Olympic Games of thievery" and the accidental shooting of a cop, he's on the run in the titular area. Both the law and fellow criminals are on his trail, and a ¥300,000 bounty is on his head. She's been dispatched as Zhou's escort by her gang-affiliated boss Huahua (Qi Dao) — and although she's just supposed to deliver messages and take the fleeing gangster where he needs to go, Liu is also a sex worker who plies her trade by the water. In flashbacks, the movie fleshes out their intertwined tales, including why Liu is the one meeting Zhou instead of his estranged wife Yang Shujun (Wan Qian). Visually, The Wild Goose Lake leaves a continued imprint; however there's a boilerplate flavour to Diao's script. After Black Coal, Thin Ice — another stylish, crime-filled neo-noir brimming with complex motives and ample duplicity — it almost seems like the filmmaker is painting by numbers in a narrative sense. He's certainly playing in a well-populated field, with no shortage of high-profile Chinese releases delving into the country's seedy underbelly of late (as seen in Jia Zhangke's Ash is Purest White and Bi Gan's Long Day's Journey Into Night). And yet, as recognisable as much of The Wild Goose Lake's story appears, it never feels like it's sending viewers on either a routine journey or a wild goose chase. Rather, that air of familiarity ripples with purpose and meaning. Indeed, the fact that these kinds of Chinese tales keep popping up and using the nation's unseemly side as a way of tackling societal uncertainty, restlessness and change makes a clear statement. Diao isn't yelling his views at anyone, though, or even conveying as strong a message about the state of his country as he did with his last film. Largely, he uses his narrative as the connective tissue that holds his stunning visuals together. If the writer/director and his returning cinematographer Dong Jinsong had planned out each strikingly shot and choreographed set-piece, then built a story around them, it wouldn't come as a surprise. The Wild Goose Lake is far more textured than a movie made in such a way ever could be, but its imagery is still the undoubted star of the show. If Nicolas Winding Refn was to splash his usual creative trademarks across a China-set gangster flick as a companion piece to the Los Angeles-based Drive and the Bangkok-set Only God Forgives, the end result wouldn't look as inky yet inescapably luminous as Diao's darkly gorgeous piece of cinema. With such alluring pictures flickering across the screen — including so many vivid amber and pink lights casting shadows across murky alleyways and rooms that the overall look should get repetitive, but doesn't — it's no wonder that Diao paces the film patiently. He gives audiences plenty of chances to soak in The Wild Goose Lake's sights, naturally. In taking his time to unfurl the feature's tale, he also conveys an apt sense of inertia as Zhou runs, Liu follows, both the cops and other crims try to track their every move, but no one ever really goes anywhere. And, in the process, he fittingly tasks his cast with giving quiet yet still expressive performances. This is the type of movie where, when dialogue is uttered, it usually says less far less than a look, a gesture or an actor's posture. Viewers don't get to know the film's characters as deeply as we could've, but it's still a very canny approach — with a feature this arresting, the audience is luxuriating in every inch of every frame from start to finish. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpmpD3-CBqg
UPDATE, February, 5, 2021: Malcolm & Marie is available to stream via Netflix. Where everything from Blue Valentine and the Before trilogy to Marriage Story have previously gone, Malcolm & Marie follows: into the fiery heat and knotty struggles of a complicated relationship. Like the heartbreaking Blue Valentine, it charts ecstatic highs and agonising lows. As Before Sunrise, Before Sunset and Before Midnight did, it relies upon dialogue swapped frequently, passionately and with chemistry. And stepping in Marriage Story's territory, it follows a director and an actor as their career choices highlight issues they've plastered over with sex, smiles and their usual routine for far too long. Still, while assembled from familiar pieces — the aforementioned movies aren't alone in stripping bare complex amorous entanglements, as the likes of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and Scenes From a Marriage demonstrated first — Malcolm & Marie slinks into its niche. It's devastatingly stylish thanks to its black-and-white colour palette, elegant costuming and luxurious single-location setting. It glides by almost entirely on the strength of its ferocious performances. But it's also indulgent and obvious, as well as clumsy in its handling of many of its conversation topics. Like most relationships, it soars at times and sinks at others. Shot in quarantine in mid-2020, the romance drama meets its eponymous couple on a momentous night, with filmmaker Malcolm (John David Washington, Tenet) all abuzz after the premiere of his latest feature. The critics gushed to him in-person so, arriving back at the flashy house that's been rented for him, he's drunk on praise and eager to celebrate with Marie (Zendaya, Spider-Man: Far From Home). As she cooks him mac 'n' cheese, he pours drinks and relives the evening's highlights. But Marie isn't as enthusiastic, or as willing to cast everything about the premiere in a rosy glow. The catalyst for her simmering discontent, other than just the state of their relationship: as Malcolm & Marie writer/director Sam Levinson admits he did himself at the premiere of his 2017 movie Assassination Nation, Malcolm forgot to thank Marie. Levinson's wife only brought it up once, he has said; however, the moment the subject comes up on-screen, Marie isn't willing to accept Malcolm's claim that he simply forgot. Cue oh-so-much arguing, mixed in with cosier banter, broader chats about art and politics, Marie's frequent escapes outside to smoke and Malcolm's impatient waiting for the first reviews of his film to drop. Marie bathes, slipping out of her shimmering dress. Malcolm dances, and also thinks that playing the right song at the right time will patch over all of his girlfriend's worries. Again and again, their discussion circles back to their history. Malcolm's movie is about a 20-year-old addict, and Marie once was that woman. She feels as if her real and painful experiences have hoovered up by him, without any appreciation or recognition — without casting her in the role, too — a contention that his lack of public acknowledgement has only solidified. In response, he easily spits back all the ways he didn't raid her life, and all the other women from his past he also used for inspiration. It can get repetitive, as wars of words are known to in the intensity of the moment, and yet Malcolm & Marie is at its best when its characters fight specifically about their relationship. That's when the film stings with authenticity; Levinson's own situation mightn't have turned out the same way, but no one is a stranger to quarrelling with their nearest and dearest, and his script shows it. When Malcolm & Marie works other affairs into the back-and-forth, though, it overplays its hand. It threatens to forget that it's about people rather than about ideas. Levinson takes aim at the current state of cinema and the discourse it inspires — including increasing calls for authenticity in bringing stories to the screen, the response that it's the craft rather than the experience that truly makes filmic art, and the way movies by talent from marginalised backgrounds are viewed through that lens — but his navel-gazing feel muddled and hollow at best. Case in point: the feature also has Malcolm delight in being fawned over by critics, rage against writers he doesn't think understand his work and complain about anyone who reads his films in a way he doesn't approve. Thankfully, even in Malcolm & Marie's least necessary scenes, it boasts Zendaya and Washington. No one else is seen in the film, in fact. Zendaya won an Emmy in 2020 for TV series Euphoria — which Levinson created, writes and has directed the bulk of, and is also based on his own experiences — and she's in blistering form here as well. When Marie is still glammed up from the night's festivities, Zendaya wears a mask of composure and determination atop her flawless makeup. When the character changes, then pads around in her underwear, the exacting performer lets her facade drop in favour of a more relaxed but still just as raw brand of pain and fury. She's impossible to look away from, but Washington is no slouch. He's given the least sympathetic but also more overtly showy part, and wears it like a second skin. Indeed, he sells Malcolm's arrogance, privilege, never-wavering confidence and volatile anger that comes out in his rants as convincingly as he sold the ruse that was crucial to his role in BlacKkKlansman. Zendaya and Washington's performances are so strong and compelling — hers especially — that when the two-hander's material lets them down, it's noticeable. The screenplay's lack of resonance and texture, key traits evident in all the best relationship dramas, is evident, too. As a result, the film easily leaves viewers wondering what might've eventuated if it hadn't been cooked up in a pandemic, designed to work within COVID-19 restrictions and scripted in six days. Cracks in even the most blissful romances take time to expand. Malcolm and Marie's central love affair has clearly never been all sunshine and roses, but the movie they're in lacks the weightiness that might've come if it had been the product of a longer gestation process. Levinson's sultry and gorgeous visuals also call attention to the movie's hastiness. From leisurely tracking shots peering in at its key duo from outside their lush abode to the many exquisite-looking ways it frames Zendaya and Washington together, Malcolm & Marie is designed to look timeless, and yet the substance that's supposed to anchor that style continually feels rushed. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGZmwsK58M8 Image: Netflix.
Massive, philanthropic art foundations had always seemed to belong to faraway cities, like New York or Madrid. Then they started popping up over here as well. A four-storey converted knitting-factory wedged at the edge of the Carlton Brewery site and the Mortuary Station, the White Rabbit Gallery showcases a massive private collection of modern Chinese art. Finding it can be a challenge, but the exhibitions are free and the quality is staggering. It's a busy place, hosting monthly talks and a book club on Chinese themes. First Sunday of the month, they run a Film Club featuring Chinese movies. Previous screenings have included Eat, Drink, Man, Woman and Hero. This month's film — Still Life — exists in the shadow of the unfathomable Three Gorges Dam. A decades-long hydro-electric project that flooded villages and cities, relocating over a million people. Directed by Jia Zhang-Ke, part of China's "sixth generation" of realist film-makers, the film follows two love-stories through the surreal changes brought about by the dam's construction. Environment, internal migration, government bureaucracy — the big themes in modern China are all there, waiting. So hop up to the second floor, and get a closer look.
Sydney recently lost one of its favourite spots for decadent pastries and loaded sambos. After satisfying cravings on Enmore Road for six years, Saga Enmore had its final service on Sunday, June 25. However, when one door closes, another opens, and the beloved duo behind Saga have already announced their new culinary home — Salma's Canteen. Saga's Andy Bowdy and Maddison Howes will be linking up with another popular Sydney duo, Michael Rantissi and Kristy Frawley of Kepos Street Kitchen, to open this new Rosebery lunch spot which combines the best that each pair has to offer. Opening along Botany Road on Wednesday, July 12, Salma's Canteen will offer a mix of hearty mains and salads from Rantissi, deli delights and sandwiches, and Bowdy's signature sweet treats — all in the one spot. The regularly changing menu will lean on fresh produce from Carriageworks' weekly market. You can also expect some beloved favourites from the Saga menu to make their way over including yuzu cheesecake, salted honey tart and passionfruit and fennel seed palmiers. [caption id="attachment_698391" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Carriageworks Farmers Markets, Jacquie Manning[/caption] Takeaway will be the main mode of operation at Salma's, but there will be a few spots both indoors and outside where you can sit for lunch or a post-work snack. It will also keep its doors open until 7pm Tuesday–Saturday, so you can swing past and pick up your dinner after work or a flaky pastry for dessert. "I started out my career 18 years ago at Pink Salt, working under Michael, so to open a place together is pretty awesome," says Bowdy. "Michael and I have very similar philosophies in terms of food — we both love fresh, vibrant food and celebrating ingredients that are in season." [caption id="attachment_615659" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Saga, Kimberley Low[/caption] Salam's will also offer you the chance to add to the inventory of your home kitchen. Bowdy's shortcrust pastry and fruit curd, as well as Rantissi's savoury fillings, will be available for purchase so that you can incorporate them into your next home cook-up. "Everyone who loves food has a Salma in their life — a feeder and nourisher who brings people together to eat and talk, sending them home piled with leftovers," says Rantissi. "Salma's Canteen is the new Salma in your life — a one-stop shop that's part kitchen, part takeaway, part diner, and part shop." [caption id="attachment_615657" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Saga, Kimberly Low[/caption] Salma's Canteen will open on Wednesday, July 12 at Shop 2, 797 Botany Road, Rosebery. It'll be open 11am–7pm Tuesday–Saturday and 10am–4pm Sunday.
Leah Purcell's resume isn't short on highlights — think: Black Comedy, Wentworth and Redfern Now, plus Lantana, Somersault and Last Cab to Darwin (to name just a few projects) — but the Goa-Gunggari-Wakka Wakka Murri actor, director and writer clearly has a passion project. In 2016, she adapted Henry Lawson's short story The Drover's Wife for the stage. In 2019, she moved it back to the page. Now, she brings it to the big screen via The Drover's Wife The Legend of Molly Johnson. Only minutes into her searing feature filmmaking debut, why Purcell keeps needing to tell this 19th century-set tale is patently apparent. In her hands, it's a story of anger, power, prejudice and revenge, and also a portrait of a history that's treated both women and Indigenous Australians abhorrently. Aussie cinema hasn't shied away from the nation's problematic past in recent times (see also: Sweet Country, The Nightingale, The Furnace and High Ground); however, this is an unforgettably potent and piercing movie. In a fiery performance that bristles with steeliness, Purcell plays the eponymous, gun-toting and heavily pregnant Molly. In the process, she gives flesh, blood and a name to a character who wasn't allowed the latter in Lawson's version. In this reimagining, Molly is a 19th-century Indigenous Australian woman left alone with her four children (and one on the way) on a remote Snowy Mountains property for lengthy stretches while her husband works — and that situation, including the reasons behind it and the ramifications from it, causes ripples that shape the course of the film. Two of the key questions that The Drover's Wife The Legend of Molly Johnson asks couldn't be more obvious, but something doesn't have to be subtle to be potent and perceptive. Those queries: what impact does being marginalised twice over, as both a woman and a First Nations Australian, leave on the feature's protagonist? How has it forged her personality, shaped what she cares about and cemented what she's capable of? It's during her spouse's latest absence that the film unfurls its story, not with a snake but rather strangers trotting Molly and her children's way. New sergeant Nate Clintoff (Sam Reid, The Newsreader) and his wife Louisa (Jessica De Gouw, Operation Buffalo) decamp from England — both well-meaning, and the latter a journalist who even protests against domestic violence, but neither truly understands Molly's experience. Also darkening her door: her husband's pals (Dead Lucky's Anthony Cogin and Wakefield's Harry Greenwood), who make the male entitlement and privilege of the time brutally apparent. And, there's no shortage of other locals determined and downright eager to throw their might, morals and opinions around, be it the resident judge (Nicholas Hope, Moon Rock for Monday), the minister (Bruce Spence, The Dry) or his unwed sister (Maggie Dence, Frayed). As Purcell impresses in her stare and stance first and foremost, Molly doesn't let her guard down around anyone. The Drover's Wife The Legend of Molly Johnson has the parade of supporting characters to show why, and to illustrate the attitudes its namesake has been forced to stomach silently her entire life. She sports physical markers, too; from the outset of this moody and brooding film, there's no doubting that violence is a familiar and frequent part of Molly's existence. But Aboriginal fugitive Yadaka (Rob Collins, Firebite) is one of the few figures to venture in her direction and earn more than her ferocious gaze. He's on the run from murder charges, although he states his real crime bluntly: "existing while Black". Around the Johnson property, he strikes up a warm camaraderie with Molly's eldest boy, 12-year-old Danny (newcomer Malachi Dower-Roberts) — and, in another of the script's point-blank strokes, he's soon the closest thing to an ally his wary host has ever had beyond her children. Fiercely revisionist meat-pie westerns have been having their moments of late — spanning not only the aforementioned stretch of flicks, but back to The Proposition — and it's plain to see why. The always-blistering The Drover's Wife The Legend of Molly Johnson digs sharply into issues of race, gender and identity, looking backwards with modern eyes to lay bare the horrors that've lingered at Australia's core for too long. It's a silver-screen reckoning, as its predecessors have been as well. It's also as resonant and striking as this Aussies slice of the genre has ever managed. Westerns as a whole have never simply dramatised frontier and colonial times, of course, but pondered the threats, behaviours and ways of thinking that were emboldened and entrenched amid all that dry, dusty land. In that tradition — one that, overseas, includes Deadwood and Django Unchained, too — The Drover's Wife The Legend of Molly Johnson keenly, shrewdly and forcefully draws cinematic blood. Also simple to spot: the dedication that Purcell brings, on- as well as off-screen, to her unflinching examination of the country's past. It's there in every exacting frame, and obviously in her performance — which adds a new and instantly memorable Indigenous hero to the nation's screens. Purcell makes it impossible to look away from her film and its lead character, even while it's rarely easy to weather everything that Molly's been made to bear. Her scenes with Collins, intimate and heaving with shared woes as they are, crackle and spark with fury and pain. Both veterans of 2016–17 TV series Cleverman (Purcell as a director, Collins as a star), they gift The Drover's Wife The Legend of Molly Johnson with portrayals that demand attention, and that never let the movie's First Nations, feminist and anti-colonial perspective waver in intensity. The theatre version of The Drover's Wife The Legend of Molly Johnson won a spate of accolades, the 2017 Helpmann Award for Best Play included, so that there's a stagey feel to Purcell's feature is similarly unsurprising. That's one of its few struggles, though. Cinematographer Mark Wareham (Jasper Jones) has been tasked with trying to thwart that sensation, and overtly — but his expressive camerawork still adds beauty and texture to the film, welcomely so. And, when The Drover's Wife The Legend of Molly Johnson does resemble impassioned dialogue pitched to the back rows, something else pivotal becomes apparent. A story this fervent and bold should echo across multiple formats. It needs to feel as if it's shouting its ire as far and wide as possible, and that every attempt to do exactly that is bleeding together as well as spreading. The Drover's Wife The Legend of Molly Johnson will get another chance and another medium to do just that, in fact, with a TV series already slated set to follow this commanding movie.
Underground Cinema — Melbourne-born innovators of secret immersive film experiences — have announced their latest Sydney instalment: La Guerre. These are the people who take cinema out of the cinema and into boatyards, beaches and after-hours schools, creating a world in sync with the evening's film though real-life actors, evocative food, intricate sets and costumes. It's all themed to set the scene and get guests guessing, because the film, of course, is a secret. So what do we know? We know that UGC La Guerre will transport guests back to the 1940s, for a cinema event that's more like walking onto a film set than anything else. Think World War II, sepia tones, pin curls and la Resistance. Wear your '40s best. The dates confirmed for Sydney are Friday, July 18, and Saturday July 19, at 7.30pm, as well as Sunday, July 20, at 5pm. Whatever the film is, viewers can expect immersion bordering on camp. In the past they've taken toga-clad cinema-goers to ancient Rome (for Life of Brian) and given out white jumpsuits, student cards and medical examinations before filing people into a snow-covered Swedish academy (Let the Right One In). As distinct from World Movies Secret Cinema, the focus is really on interactivity, immersion and theatricality, quite like the UK institution Secret Cinema. Sometimes the screening location takes a back seat (the Life of Brian space was in Moore Park; the screening, Hoyts). Because of the popularity of their previous vintage-themed events, UGC have added an extra Sydney show this time around, but predictions are they'll all sell out anyway — so depechez-vous! Tickets go on sale on Tuesday, June 24, at 1pm sharp. There's a cash bar and hot food on site, and all ticketholders will be sent details of the location via SMS on the day. Keep an eye on the UGC Facebook page for more details. https://youtube.com/watch?v=r9GufI42bLI
We all wish that we were the kind of people who crammed their gas stoves and their tents into the backseat and took ourselves on an invigorating camping trip over the Australia Day long weekend. And just because we didn't all succeed, doesn't mean the dream is over. Because all you need for a camping expedition is waiting for you in Bondi. On Friday and Saturday, January 30-31, Tin Shed Camping Tours invites you to a choose-your-own-adventure camping expedition inside Bondi Pavilion as a part of the Rock Surfers Theatre Company's third annual Summer Camp festival. In the indoor woodlands that have taken over the Bondi Pavilion Seagull Room, this interactive performance work promises to pull audiences in with ghost stories, singalongs, campfires, sleeping bags and cider. Tin Shed Camping Tours runs for two nights only, so make your way from the Bondi sands and into the woods.
No matter how much time you've dedicated to learning Beyoncé's dance in 'Formation', chances are you can appreciate a good dance move here and there. But today's pop culture choreography didn't just appear on TV screens and dancefloors around the world by magic. Before they became a part of everyone's best routines, it is highly likely that they were conjured up by the next generation of contemporary choreographers and performers. In fact, we'd bet on it. Eight such artists are currently on display at the Melbourne semi-finals of the 2016 Keir Choreographic Award, which commissions and presents new choreographic works in a competitive context. In the biennial award's second edition, Aussie practitioners Sarah Aiken, James Batchelor, Chloe Chignell, Ghenoa Gela, Martin Hansen, Alice Heyward, Rebecca Jensen and Paea Leach will battle it out for the prestigious prize and a very tidy $30,000. On the jury is Brussells-based performance theorist Bojana Cvejić, curator and critic Pierre Bal-Blanc, US choreographer Sarah Michelson, the inaugural recipient of the Award Atlanta Eke and founder of the foundation, Phillip Keir. The four selected finalists will then travel up to Sydney to perform over three days at Carriageworks, with evening performances on May 5, 6 and 7, along with an afternoon performance on May 7. You can even get involved by voting for the Audience Choice, which awards one of the artists $10,000. So you won't just be witnessing trail-blazing performances of music and movement, you'll also be getting a glimpse of (and participating in) the future of dance. And it might just help with your Beyoncé moves. And thanks to Carriageworks, we're giving away 10 double passes to the Keir Choreographic Award, taking place over three days from May 5-7. Just enter below. [competition]570178[/competition] Image: Gregory Lorenzutti for Dancehouse.
Almost a decade and a half after the Marvel Cinematic Universe first reached screens and began to change blockbuster entertainment as we know it, it can often seem like its sprawling range of interconnected films and TV shows has featured every actor ever. We'd start naming stars, but there's just so many. And the next show headed to the comic book company's television ranks — and set to stream via Disney+, obviously — definitely won't change that feeling, given that it features Oscar Isaac and Ethan Hawke. In Moon Knight, Isaac (The Card Counter) plays the eponymous figure — and yes, from the MCU's Phase Four ranks (because Marvel splits its movies and series into phases depending on where the overarching story is at the time), this'll be the first Disney+ series that doesn't overtly tie in with characters we've already seen in plenty of its past flicks. So, if it all sounds unfamiliar after the last year served up WandaVision, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Loki and Hawkeye, there's a very good reason for that. On the page, Moon Knight dates back to 1975 — and, on-screen, hasn't ever gotten the live-action treatment until now. Also known as Marc Spector, the character is an ex-marine who has a dissociative identity disorder as well as a sleeping disorder, and also becomes the conduit for the Egyptian moon god Khonshu. Already dealing with multiple distinctive identities and not being able to tell the difference between being awake and asleep, the latter run-in doesn't go down smoothly, unsurprisingly. Just how that'll turn out for this Isaac-starring version of the figure won't be seen until Wednesday, March 30, when Moon Knight will start hitting Disney+ — but the first trailer for the six-part series has just dropped to give everyone a glimpse in the interim. Isaac plays frantic, stressed and panic well, and not only because he plays almost everything well (see also: last year's Scenes From a Marriage and Dune). And this sneak peek both gets twisty and teases out the show's premise. As for Hawke (The Good Lord Bird), he's the villain of the piece, and is seen drawing a crowd, looking like a cult leader and encouraging Marc to embrace the voice inside his head. Moon Knight boasts impressive talent behind the camera, too, with The Endless and Synchronic's Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead directing. And yes, this is just the first of Marvel's 2022 TV shows, with She-Hulk starring Tatiana Maslany (Perry Mason) and he-hulk Mark Ruffalo, plus Ms Marvel and Nick Fury-focused series Secret Invasion, all likely to hit this year, too. Check out the Moon Knight trailer below: Moon Knight will be available to stream via Disney+ from Wednesday, March 30.
Grab your goggles, don your lycra and get on your running shoes — the ultimate endurance test is back. IRONMAN Australia will once again challenge the fittest athletes from here and abroad in the toughest triathlon on offer. The race will take place in picturesque Port Macquarie, where competitors will take to the water in the Hastings River before biking along the Pacific Ocean and finally running through the heart of Port Macquarie. It all takes place on Sunday, May 5, when the historic triathlon brings the ultimate test of endurance to its brave participants, with three legs of different physicalities stretched over a whopping 226-kilometre course. You read that right, 226 kilometres. It's a single race divided into sections of swimming, cycling and running. There's plenty of room to tag along and support any participants you know as the course will be lined with spectators — and dotted with fuelling points since cheers alone won't carry participants to the finish. Needless to say, it is not for the faint of fitness, and qualifying finishers can go on to compete in the IRONMAN World Championships later in the year.
To celebrate the release of the second season of the medieval fantasy saga Game of Thrones to Blu-Ray, DVD, and digital download, head chef and owner of Gastro Park Grant King is again offering Sydneysiders a chance to acquire their own firsthand experience of the Seven Kingdoms and beyond through a specially designed five-course feast. The Potts Point restaurant is renowned for its gastronomic playfulness in technique and plating, so you can expect more than a leg of boar and goblet of wine. Last year's first-season equivalent featured 'fallen eyeballs and bleeding stag', 'a soup of crushed skills and raven's feet', and a dessert of 'dragon's egg and liquid gold'. The Game of Thrones series, based on the book Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin, has developed somewhat of a cult following since its release in April 2012, and viewers simply can't get enough of the mystical land filled with dragons, swords, bloodshed, romance, and deceit. If you'd do anything to get a taste of the majestic settings of Westeros, Essos, or Qarth or have always wanted to join the throes of our beloved Starks, Lannisters, and various other fantastical characters, then Gastro Park is your place to be. Indulge your tastebuds and your imagination in this entirely Game of Thrones-inspired five-course meal, on for a limited time only. Last year King's banquet sold out almost instantly and proved to be a raging success, meaning you should hurry and book your seats before you miss out (specify you're booking in for the feast when you call them on 02 8068 1017). Explore the second season of the medieval world with all your senses with his brand-new menu, this time in honour of the dramatic Battle of the Blackwater, sure to be as or even more delightful than the last. The culinary experience is available from 14 March to 25 April at the cost of $100 per person. 8 March 2013: Photos of the new feast have just come in. Check them out here.
The relentlessly relentless Mary's is gearing up to bring together some of Australia's best chefs and wine makers for Jump in the Fire, a new monthly event that champions boutique drops and creative versions of the mighty burger. As with all happenings at Mary's, you can count on a fast pace, a lot of fun and loads of noise. Stealing its title from the fourth track of Metallica's debut album Kill 'Em All — a long-standing Mary's favourite — the event will take place on the last Monday of every month, when the typical hospitality worker's weekend begins. While some evenings will involve pre-dinner masterclasses, others will be dedicated to wine appreciation. Lurking in the corner will be locals DJs and bands. Jump In The Fire kicks off on Monday, 27 August, with a South Australian collaboration, starring South African-born, French-trained chef Duncan Welgemoed of Adelaide's Africola alongside wine maker Taras Ochota of Ochota Barrels, Adelaide Hills. They'll be pouring new releases and museum pieces, serving French Dip Burgers and listening to the Dead Kennedys from 6pm. In September, Victoria will take the reigns, when chef Josh Murphy travels from West Footscray's neighbourhood eatery Harley & Rose, accompanied by sommelier Campbell Burton of Campbell Burton Wines, a wine distributor dedicated to small-batch, organic drops. Both previously worked at Fitzroy gastropub Builder's Arms. Come October, it'll be Tassie's turn, with representation from Hobart-based chef Luke Burgess (ex-Garagiste, Gun for Hire, Handsome Man) and Roger and Sue of Living Wines, a small importer that specialises in organic, biodynamic European wines. Finally, as the last Monday in November bids farewell to spring, Sydney will strut its stuff, with the entrance of the powerhouse Italian sibling duo of Paddington's 10 William Street: sommelier Giovanni Paradiso and head chef Enrico Tomelleri.
Nutella has a legion of fans. Peanut butter, too. But for those who are't so fond of nuts, or happen to be allergic to them, Lotus Biscoff cookie butter spread has emerged as a very worthy alternative. It's made from the crumbs of Lotus Biscoff caramelised biscuits, comes in creamy and crunchy varieties and, understandably, has picked up quite a following. Last year, Australians were also able to enjoy Lotus Biscoff cookie butter spread in their gelato, thanks to a limited-edition flavour at Gelatissimo. In 2021, another team up is bringing the spread to your tastebuds in a creative fashion — this time thanks to Krispy Kreme's new range of Lotus Biscoff doughnuts. If you've ever had trouble choosing between slathering Belgium's Lotus Biscoff cookie butter spread over bread or munching your way through a circular baked good or two, you no longer need to pick — at least while stocks last at Krispy Kreme stores around the country, and at 7-Elevens as well. Two types are available, with the 'Lotus Biscoff Ring' taking an original glazed doughnut, smothering it with Lotus Biscoff spread, and adding a swirl of Lotus Biscoff crème on top. As for the 'Lotus Biscoff Cheesecake' version, it's dipped in the spread, filled with cream cheese frosting, and then topped with Lotus Biscoff crumbs and chocolate ganache. The Lotus Biscoff doughnuts are also available via Krispy Kreme delivery, click and collect, Uber Eats, Menulog and Deliveroo. Krispy Kreme's Biscoff doughnuts are available from all stores nationwide while stocks last (including via Krispy Kreme delivery, click and collect, Uber Eats, Menulog and Deliveroo) and at 7-Eleven stores nationally.
Whatever you're doing this weekend — gardening, partying, doing your tax return — you're going to need a killer soundtrack. This is that soundtrack. <a href="http://fbiradio.bandcamp.com/album/song-reader-sydney-sessions" mce_href="http://fbiradio.bandcamp.com/album/song-reader-sydney-sessions">Song Reader Sydney - Sessions by Aidan Roberts</a> 1. AIDAN ROBERTS - NOW THAT YOUR DOLLAR BILLS HAVE SPROUTED WINGS Last year, American indie hero Beck released an album called Song Reader. Nothing exciting there, except that he released it as sheet music only, the idea being that to listen to the music, you needed to be a part of a community, and to sit around with musician friends and create the music together. Beck's imagining of a community inspired a small, dedicated group of Australian music industry folk to put on a show late last year, where the likes of Sarah Blasko, Jonathan Boulet, Josh Pyke and Caitlin Park came together to play the 'album' in full. Now, some six months later, our friends at Sydney's FBi Radio have released perhaps the world's first full Song Reader album, available on iTunes and via FBi's Bandcamp page. And they are doing it for charity, with all money raised going to the Sydney Story Factory — an organisation that encourages and fosters creative writing among marginalised and disadvantaged young people. This — from Aidan Roberts of The Maple Trail and Belles Will Ring — is just beautiful and heartbreaking and all those wonderful words. (Oh, and that wailing guitar noise you hear in the background? That's local legend Brian Campeau dragging kitchen scissors across his guitar strings.) 2. PAPA - YOUNG RUT They haven't even released an album yet, but PAPA are a group to keep an eye on. The two-piece from Los Angeles make perfect indie-pop, but there's always something fascinating going on just on the edges that stops it sinking in to dullness. On 'Young Rut' it's those guitars in the chorus that crash in and transform the song from mid-tempo and forgettable to urgent, driving and absolutely indispensable. And more than one reviewer has noted a touch of the Springsteen in drummer/singer Darren Weiss's voice. It's time to hop on board the PAPA bandwagon, because they're pulling outta here to win. 3. KANYE WEST / TAME IMPALA - BLACK SKINHEAD vs. ELEPHANT In case you hadn't noticed, Kanye West recently released a new album. Whatever you think of him as a human being, there's no question that his desperate need to be A Serious Artist has led to some of the best hip hop of the past decade — 'Jesus Walks', 'Stronger', almost all of My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, 'Gold Digger', 'Touch The Sky', and so many more. 'Black Skinhead' is another such song, one that seems to be tearing down everything Kanye has built up around him: gold chains, designer clothes, even his own celebrity. And this mashup — essentially just Kanye's vocals over Tame Impala's 'Elephant' — works really well and demonstrates that Kanye really can do anything, even if that is rapping over an Australian psych/rock band. 4. JESSICA PRATT - HOLLYWOOD Originally released at the end of 2012 in the US, Jessica Pratt's self-titled debut has only just made its way to our sunny shoes. But it's well worth the wait. 'Hollywood' recalls nothing more than the folk of the late 1960s, Pratt sounding for all the world like Joan Baez, or a young Joni Mitchell. With just a guitar and her voice Pratt presents incredibly vivid descriptions of the world around her, and manages to capture the excitement and confusion of being young and arriving in a new city, redolent with possibilities. If you enjoyed the Laura Marling track we featured here a few weeks ago, then you will absolutely love this. https://youtube.com/watch?v=unNa-9qGkfI 5. NEKO CASE - MAN You might know Neko Case from The New Pornographers or from her amazing solo albums (if you don't, you need a copy of Twin Cinema and Middle Cyclone right this second), and she's always seemed like that one awesome older sister/aunt/friend you always wished you had: wry, badass and full of knowledge of the ways of the world. And now she's back with her newest solo album, The Worse Things Get, The Harder I Fight, The Harder I Fight, The More I Love You. The title might be hard work, but the record won't be: Case's combination of country, indie, folk and rock and roll influences has led to a handful of absolutely essential albums, with her beautiful, clear, bell-like voice able to adapt itself to the music. She's also a shredding guitarist, gives no fucks, and once revealed on Spicks and Specks that her grandmother was one of America's first professional female wrestlers. All the types of rad.
Whether it's a crispy chicken schnitzel or a simple cheeseburger, a well-executed pub classic is hard to pass up. And while many of this city's best pubs stick to the straight and narrow with their menu, some have decided to branch out in recent times. The Old Fitz and The Cricketers Arms have both introduced fancy European bistros to their offerings, The Dolphin specialises in next-level Italian eats, and the recently revamped Hotel Downing is now getting in on the action with its new Latin-style restaurant Fugo. The CBD watering hole reopened in March following a renovation, welcoming its new tenant into the hotel bistro. Fugo is a project from Hello Auntie Executive Chef and owner Cuong Nguyen in collaboration with his childhood best friend Luis Gil. The pair have drawn from Gil's Argentinian heritage and their love for South American cuisine to create a flavour-packed menu of casual share plates, loaded sandwiches and impressive mains. "Sydney is known as the epicentre for multicultural food yet Latin American cuisine seems to be underrepresented," says Gil. "Every Latin culture has so much to offer in terms of food and flavour, so we want to share our passion for the culture in Sydney." Piled high with meats, the sandwiches are a crowd-pleasing addition to the menu. The el cubano combines braised pork, smoked ham, swiss cheese, pickles and mustard, while the el lomito places sliced steak, mayo, chimichurri, a fried egg, ham, tomato, lettuce and cheese on a long, crunchy bánh mi-style bread roll. The share plates include cheesy empanadas, smoked ham croquettes, and charred corn topped with chipotle mayo, paprika, chilli, lime and cheese. And then there's the mains, which feature a 250-gram MB2 sirloin served with chimi butter and fries, and the creamy Fugo take on vodka pasta: the linguine al tequila. Plus, on Tuesdays, Fugo rolls out its take on a Mexican classic — tacos. Each week, you can score three tacos for $20 with your choice of protein from the likes of pork, prawn, beef, lamb, fish and mushroom. Just like the playful menu, the name doesn't take itself too seriously either. "One of our friends attempted to say 'fuego' years ago and said fugo instead," says Nguyen. "So Gil and I laughed about it and chose the name." Find Fugo at Hotel Downing, 249 Castlereagh Street, Sydney — open 12–2pm and 5–9pm Monday–Saturday.
UPDATE, May 20, 2022: Candyman is available to stream via Prime Video, Google Play, YouTube Movies and iTunes. Who can take tomorrow and dip it in a dream? 'The Candy Man' can, or so the suitably sugary earworm of a song has crooned since 1971. What scratches at the past, carves open its nightmares and sends them slicing into the present? That'd be the latest Candyman film, a powerful work of clear passion and palpable anger that's crafted with tense, needling thrills and exquisite vision. Echoing Sammy Davis Jr's version of the tune that virtually shares its name across its opening frames, this new dalliance with the titular hook-handed villain both revives the slasher franchise that gave 90s and 00s teen sleepovers an extra tremor — if you didn't stare into the mirror and utter the movie's moniker five times, were you really at a slumber party? — and wrestles vehemently and determinedly with the historic horrors that've long befallen Black Americans. It'll come as zero surprise that Jordan Peele produces and co-penned the screenplay with writer/director Nia DaCosta (Little Woods) and writer/producer Win Rosenfeld (The Twilight Zone). Candyman slides so silkily into Peele's thematic oeuvre alongside Get Out and Us, plus Peele-produced TV series Hunters and Lovecraft Country, that his fingerprints are inescapable. But it's rising star DaCosta who delivers a strikingly alluring, piercingly savage and instantly memorable picture. Alongside bloody altercations and lashings of body horror, razor blade-spiked candy makes multiple appearances, and her film is equally as sharp and enticing. In a preface that expands the Candyman mythology — and savvily shows how the movie has everyday realities firmly on its mind — that contaminated confectionery is thrust to the fore. In 1977, in the Cabrini-Green housing estate where the series has always loitered, Sherman Fields (Michael Hargrove, Chicago PD) is suspected of handing out the laced lollies to neighbourhood kids. Sent to do laundry in the basement, pre-teen Billy (Rodney L Jones III, Fargo) soon comes face-to-face with the man everyone fears; however, after the boy screams and the police arrive, he witnesses something even more frightening. Jumping to the present (albeit absent any signs of the pandemic given Candyman was initially slated to release in mid-2020), Cabrini-Green is now Chicago's current poster child for gentrification. It's where artist Anthony McCoy (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Watchmen) and curator Brianna Cartwright (Teyonah Parris, WandaVision) have just bought an expansive apartment, in fact. They're unaware of the area's background, until Brianna's brother Troy (Nathan Stewart-Jarrett, Generation) and his partner Grady (Kyle Kaminsky, DriverX) start filling them in on the legend that's long been whispered across the local streets — and, struggling to come up with ideas for a new show, Anthony quickly clasps onto all things Candyman for his next big project. The feeling that springs when you discover that something isn't what it seems, and that its murkiness run so deep that it's devastatingly inescapable? That's the sensation that Anthony experiences as he plunges down the rabbit hole of learning everything he can about Candyman. Laundromat owner William Burke (Colman Domingo, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom) helps fill some gaps, and the events of the original 1992 film also guide the artist's research — with all that backstory conveyed via seductively gothic shadow puppetry — but fans with strong memories of the initial movie will already understand why Anthony is so thoroughly consumed. DaCosta also builds towards his jittery and obsessed mental state stylistically from the get-go. Urgency seethes through the feature's fidgety, nervy score, with composer Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe (aka Lichens, a musician with credits on It Comes at Night and Mother!) turning restlessness and anxiousness into jostling notes. In Candyman's stunningly vivid imagery, as lensed by Happiest Season and An American Pickle cinematographer John Guleserian, every visual choice further solidifies the feverishly unsettling mood. Shots involving mirrors stand out, aptly, but bold framing decisions, careening camerawork through hallways, and clever use of placement, angles, and zooming in and out all prove expertly calibrated. Again and again, DaCosta gives cinematic flesh to Anthony's emotional and mental states. She apes his inner turmoil in her external flourishes; so much of Candyman is about reflections, given that's where its eponymous boogeyman arises, after all. That notion also shimmers across the film's heftier layers and heaving social critique, as it muses on the cycle of violence against people of colour that keeps being mirrored in generation after generation — upping the ante from the flick that started it all. Back then, the franchise's fearsome force was 19th-century artist Daniel Robitaille (Tony Todd, The Flash), who was brutally attacked and murdered for loving a white woman. His hand was severed, and he was smeared with honey that attracted bees to dispense fatal stings. Now, he's not the only ghostly victim of such ghastly racial injustice. This fourth instalment in the saga, following terrible initial sequels in 1995 and 1995, isn't subtle about the picture it's painting; however, it is intense, ardent and shrewd at almost every moment. And, while it sometimes tasks characters with too overtly making blatant statements (a critic's dismissiveness of Anthony's latest creations is just too neatly scripted, for instance), Candyman usually finds the right balance, stressing but rarely overcooking its message. That its central figure's new artwork is called Say My Name provides one such example; it's obvious, in both its links to uttering Candyman's moniker and to the #SayHerName movement that raises awareness for black women subjected to violence, but it's also wounding. From Abdul-Mateen II leading the show, to stellar supporting work by Parris, Domingo and Todd, casting is another of DaCosta's painstakingly perfect touches. In The Get Down, Aquaman and The Trial of the Chicago 7 — and, of course, in Watchmen — Abdul-Mateen II has already shown that he knows how to make his presence felt, and Candyman wouldn't burn as searingly or buzz as stingingly without his performance. He's front and centre in a movie that excavates, contemplates and ravages the past, rather than tries to simply construct something new from its ashes. Helping the film cut its own path while remaining fully aware that it'll always swarm into its cult-favourite predecessor's hive, he never merely plays the always-sympathetic and dutifully heroic protagonist, either. Nor is Anthony just an emblem of reckoning with prejudice and fighting back, even in a feature that adores its symbolism. Indeed, his name is worth saying multiple times, as is DaCosta's — en route to her next gig directing Marvel Cinematic Universe project The Marvels — and this haunting and entrancing movie's moniker as well.
Your Christmas dessert game is already looking super strong this year, whether you like the sound of Piccolina's decadent gelato cake, Messina's OTT trifle or perhaps a liquid sugar rush courtesy of Four Pillars' cult Christmas pudding gin. But wait — there's more. The good folk at Black Star Pastry have entered the ring with their own festive creation — a limited-edition layered number dubbed First Snow. It's the brand's first foray into Christmas treats in a few years and it's hitting all the right notes. Inspired by the idea of a snow-capped white Christmas, the cake boasts layers of milk sponge, white chocolate and elderflower cream, spliced with a Griottine (boozy macerated cherries) compote and set atop a base of roasted wafer. A snowfall of white chocolate tops it all off, along with a forest scene featuring hand-carved chocolate 'pine cones', fresh cherries, fondant snowflakes and white chocolate ice shards. If you're craving a white Christmas, this should certainly hit the spot. They're whipping up First Snow in two different sizes, depending on how big (and hungry) your Christmas crew is — the four-portion serve clocks in at $48, while the ten-portion is $92. And given how Black Star's creations usually land, you'll probably want to be quick to secure one. Pre-orders open on Monday, December 5, with pick-ups available from all Melbourne and Sydney stores between Thursday, December 22–Saturday, December 24. [caption id="attachment_872534" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Black Star St Kilda[/caption] You can pre-order Black Star's First Snow cake online from December 5. Collection is available from all of the brand's Aussie stores — Newtown, Sydney CBD, Rosebery, Moore Park, Chadstone and St Kilda.
Not all that long ago, the idea of getting cosy on your couch, clicking a few buttons, and having thousands of films and television shows at your fingertips seemed like something out of science fiction. Now, it's just an ordinary night — whether you're virtually gathering the gang to text along, cuddling up to your significant other or shutting the world out for some much needed me-time. Of course, given the wealth of options to choose from, there's nothing ordinary about making a date with your chosen streaming platform. The question isn't "should I watch something?" — it's "what on earth should I choose?". Hundreds of titles are added to Australia's online viewing services each and every month, all vying for a spot on your must-see list. And, so you don't spend 45 minutes scrolling and then being too tired to actually commit to anything, we're here to help. We've spent plenty of couch time watching our way through this month's latest batch — and, from the latest and greatest through to old and recent favourites, here are our picks for your streaming queue from July's haul. BRAND NEW STUFF YOU CAN WATCH IN FULL NOW THE BEAR The more time that anyone spends in the kitchen, the easier that whipping up their chosen dish gets. The Bear season two is that concept in TV form, even if the team at The Original Beef of Chicagoland don't always live it as they leap from running a beloved neighbourhood sandwich joint to opening a fine-diner, and fast. The hospitality crew that was first introduced in the best new show of 2022 isn't lacking in culinary skills or passion. But when chaos surrounds you constantly, as bubbled and boiled through The Bear's Golden Globe-winning, Emmy-nominated season-one frames, not everything always goes to plan. That was only accurate on-screen for Carmen 'Carmy' Berzatto (Jeremy Allen White, Shameless) and his colleagues — aka sous chef Sydney (Ayo Edebiri, I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson), baker-turned-pastry chef Marcus (Lionel Boyce, Hap and Leonard), veteran line cooks Tina (Liza Colón-Zayas, In Treatment) and Ebraheim (Edwin Lee Gibson, Fargo), resident Mr Fixit Neil Fak (IRL chef Matty Matheson), and family pal Richie aka Cousin (Ebon Moss-Bachrach, No Hard Feelings). For viewers, the series' debut run was as perfect a piece of television as anyone can hope for. Excellent news: season two is better. The Bear serves up another sublime course of comedy, drama and "yes chef!"-exclaiming antics across its sizzling second season. Actually make that ten more courses, one per episode, with each new instalment its own more-ish meal. A menu, a loan, desperately needed additional help, oh-so-much restaurant mayhem: that's how this second visit begins, as Carmy and Sydney endeavour to make their dreams for their own patch of Chicago's food scene come true. So far, so familiar, but The Bear isn't just plating up the same dishes this time around. At every moment, this new feast feels richer, deeper and more seasoned, including when it's as intense as ever, when it's filling the screen with tastebud-tempting food shots that relish culinary artistry, and also when it gets meditative. Episodes that send Marcus to a Noma-esque venue in Copenhagen under the tutelage of Luca (Will Poulter, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3), get Richie spending a week learning the upscale ropes at one of Chicago's best restaurants and jump back to the past, demonstrating how chaos would've been in Carmy's blood regardless of if he became a chef, are particularly stunning. The Bear season two streams via Disney+. Read our full review. THEY CLONED TYRONE Jordan Peele's Get Out and Us would already make a killer triple feature with Boots Riley's Sorry to Bother You. For a smart and savvy marathon of science fiction-leaning films about race in America by Black filmmakers, now add Juel Taylor's They Cloned Tyrone. The Creed II screenwriter turns first-time feature director with this dystopian movie that slides in alongside Groundhog Day, Moon, The Cabin in the Woods, A Clockwork Orange, Invasion of the Body Snatchers and They Live, too — but is never derivative, not for a second, including in its 70s-style Blaxploitation-esque aesthetic that nods to Shaft and Superfly as well. Exactly what drug dealer Fontaine (John Boyega, The Woman King), pimp Slick Charles (Jamie Foxx, Spider-Man: No Way Home) and sex worker Yo-Yo (Teyonah Parris, Candyman) find in their neighbourhood is right there in the film's name. The how, the why, the specifics around both, the sense of humour that goes with all of the above, the savage satire: Taylor and co-writer Tony Rettenmaier perfect the details. Ignore the fact that they both collaborated on the script for the awful Space Jam: A New Legacy, other than considering the excellent They Cloned Tyrone as a far smarter, darker and deeper exploration of exploitation when the powers that be see other people as merely a means to an end. On an ordinary day — and amid vintage-looking threads and hairstyles, and also thoroughly modern shoutouts to SpongeBob SquarePants, Kevin Bacon, Barack Obama, Nancy Drew and bitcoin — Fontaine wakes up, has little cash and doesn't win on an instant scratch-it. He chats to his mother through her bedroom door, tries to collect a debt from Slick Charles and, as Yo-Yo witnesses, is shot. Then he's back in his bed, none the wiser about what just happened, zero wounds to be seen, and going through the same cycle again. When the trio realise that coming back from the dead isn't just a case of déjà vu, they team up to investigate, discovering one helluva conspiracy that helps Taylor's film make a powerful statement. They Cloned Tyrone's lead trio amply assists, too, especially the ever-ace Boyega. Like Sorry to Bother You especially, this is a comedy set within a nightmarish scenario, and the Attack the Block, Star Wars and Small Axe alum perfects both the humour and the horror. One plucky and persistent, the other oozing charm and rocking fur-heavy coats, Parris and Foxx lean into the hijinks as the central threesome go all Scooby-Doo. There isn't just a man in a mask here, however, in this astute and inventive standout. They Cloned Tyrone streams via Netflix. GOOD OMENS Since 2019, witnessing David Tennant utter the word "angel" has been one of the small screen's great delights. Playing the roguish demon Crowley in Good Omens, the Scottish Doctor Who and Broadchurch star sometimes says it as an insult, occasionally with weary apathy and even with exasperation. Usually simmering no matter his mood, however, is affection for the person that he's always talking about: book-loving and bookshop-owning heavenly messenger Aziraphale (Michael Sheen, Quiz). With just one term and two syllables, Tennant tells a story about the show's central odd-couple duo, who've each been assigned to oversee earth by their bosses — Crowley's from below, Aziraphale's from above — and also conveys their complicated camaraderie. So, also since 2019, watching Tennant and Sheen pair up on-screen has been supremely divine. Good Omens, which hails from Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman's award- and fan-winning 1990 novel Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch, was always going to be about Aziraphale and Crowley. And yet, including in its second season, it's always been a better series because it's specifically about Sheen as the former and Tennant as the latter. In this long-awaited return, neither Aziraphale nor Crowley are beloved by their higher-ups or lower-downs thanks to their thwarting-the-apocalypse actions. Season one saw them face their biggest test yet after they started observing humans since biblical times — the always-foretold birth of the antichrist and, 11 years later, cosmic forces rolling towards snuffing out the planet's people to start again — and saving the world wasn't what their leaders wanted. One fussing over his store and remaining reluctant to sell any of its tomes, the other continuing to swagger around like Bill Nighy as a rule-breaking rockstar, Aziraphale nor Crowley have each carved out a comfortable new status quo, though, until a naked man walking through London with nothing but a cardboard box comes trundling along. He can't recall it, but that birthday suit-wearing interloper is the archangel Gabriel (Jon Hamm, Confess, Fletch). He knows he's there for a reason and that it isn't good, but possesses zero memory otherwise. And, in the worst news for Aziraphale and Crowley, he has both heaven and hell desperate to find him — which is just the beginning of season two's delightful chaos. Good Omens streams via Prime Video. Read our full review. FULL CIRCLE Whether on screens big and small, when an audience watches a Steven Soderbergh project, they're watching one of America's great current directors ply his full range of filmmaking skills. Usually, he doesn't just helm. Going by Peter Andrews and Mary Ann Bernard — aliases from his parents' names — he shoots and edits as well. And he's prolific: since advising that he'd retire from making features after Side Effects, he's directed, lensed and spliced nine more, plus three TV shows. Among those titles sit movies such as Logan Lucky, Unsane, Kimi and Magic Mike's Last Dance; the exceptional two seasons of turn-of-the-20th-century medical drama The Knick; and now New York-set kidnapping miniseries Full Circle. The filmmaker who won Cannes Film Festival's Palme d'Or at 26 for Sex, Lies and Videotape, earned two Best Director Oscars in one year for Traffic and Erin Brockovich, brought the Ocean's franchise back to cinemas in 2001, and eerily predicted the COVID-19 pandemic with 2011's Contagion is in his element with his latest work. Six-part noir-influenced thriller Full Circle reunites Soderbergh with Mosaic and No Sudden Move screenwriter Ed Solomon, boasts a starry cast, involves money and secrets and deception, and proves a twisty and layered crime tale from the get-go. Full Circle starts with a murder, then a revenge plot, then a missing smartphone. These early inclusions all tie into an intricate narrative that will indeed demonstrate inevitability, cause and effect, the repercussions of our actions, and decisions looping back around. The pivotal death forms part of a turf war, sparking a campaign of retaliation by Queens-based Guyanese community leader and insurance scammer Savitri Mahabir (CCH Pounder, Avatar: The Way of Water). She enlists freshly arrived teens Xavier (Sheyi Cole, Atlanta) and Louis (Gerald Jones, Armageddon Time) to do the seizing under her nephew Aked's (Jharrel Jerome, I'm a Virgo) supervision; one of the newcomers is the brother of the latter's fiancée Natalia (Adia, The Midnight Club), who is also Savitri's masseuse. The target: Manhattan high-schooler Jared (Ethan Stoddard, Mysteries at the Museum), son of the wealthy and privileged Sam (Claire Danes, Fleishman Is in Trouble) and Derek Browne (Timothy Olyphant, Daisy Jones & The Six), and grandson through Sam to ponytailed celebrity chef Jeff McCusker (Dennis Quaid, Strange World). Savitri is convinced that this is the only way to stave off the curse she's certain is hanging over her business — a "broken circle", in fact. But, much to the frustration of the US Postal Inspection Service's Manny Broward (Jim Gaffigan, Peter Pan & Wendy), his go-for-broke agent Melody Harmony (Zazie Beetz, Black Mirror) is already investigating before the abduction. Full Circle streams via Binge. Read our full review. WHAM! "If you're gonna do it, do it right," sang Wham! on their 1985 single 'I'm Your Man'. When it comes to living the dream of becoming international pop sensations in your twenties, and with your childhood best friend by your side, George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley took those lyrics to heart. Wham!'s rise wasn't perfect, as the documentary that shares the group's name surveys, but the group's brief existence in the 80s saw them make their mark on history — and release quite the array of earworms. The songs, the ska band that Michael and Ridgeley formed first, the doubts, the struggles: documentarian Chris Smith (Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened, Operation Varsity Blues: The College Admissions Scandal) steps through it all, including Michael's difficult decision to keep his sexuality closeted. The early club gigs to drum up a fandom, the big-break Top of the Pops appearance, catapulting to fame, becoming the first Western pop group to play China: that's all featured as well. And shorts — so, so, many shorts donned by both the man who'd become a massive solo star once Wham! split and the pal who volunteered to show him around on his first day at Bushey Meads School long before their Wham! success. Smith crafts an affectionate and insightful film that's unashamedly a tribute, celebrates all things 80s from the hair and the outfits to the aura of excess, but makes clear that the band was never just Michael's launching pad — even if it did cement his talents not just as a singer, but also as a writer and producer. A fast-paced array of archival footage tells the tale visually, aided by scrapbooks kept by Ridgeley's mother that chart their careers; candid interviews with Michael before his death and Ridgeley now fill in the details. Also echoing: Wham!'s hits from 'Wham Rap!' and 'Young Guns' to 'Club Tropicana' and 'Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go'. Each gets their engaging origin story, although none more so than the still-astonishing 'Careless Whisper', which record executives dismissed when they ignored the group's very first demo four decades ago. The behind-the-scenes material is relaxed and intimate, the live clips electrifying, and the joy on Michael's face while playing Live Aid with the likes of Freddie Mercury and David Bowie is genuine (even as he talks of his fears that he didn't belong in their company). Watching means getting Wham!'s catalogue stuck in your head, of course — yes, 'Last Christmas' as well. Wham! streams via Netflix. THE HORROR OF DOLORES ROACH It takes place in New York, not London. The era: modern times, not centuries back. Fleet Street gives way to Washington Heights, the demon barber to a masseuse nicknamed "Magic Hands", and pies to empanadas. There's still a body count, however, and people end up in pastries as well. Yes, The Horror of Dolores Roach namedrops Sweeney Todd early, as it needs to; there's no denying where this eight-part series takes inspiration, as did the one-woman off-Broadway play that it's based on, plus the podcast that followed before the TV version. On the stage, the airwaves and now via streaming, creator Aaron Mark asks a question: what if the fictional cannibalism-inciting character who first graced penny dreadfuls almost two centuries back, then leapt to theatres, films and, most famously, musicals, had a successor today? Viewers can watch the answer via a dramedy that also belongs on the same menu as Santa Clarita Diet, Yellowjackets and Bones and All. Amid this recent feast of on-screen dishes about humans munching on humans, The Horror of Dolores Roach is light yet grisly, but it's also a survivalist thriller in its own way — and laced with twisted attempts at romance, too. That knowing callout to Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street comes amid an early banquet of knowing callouts, as The Horror of Dolores Roach begins with a play based on a podcast that's wrapping up its opening night. Newspaper clippings in actor Flora Frias' (Jessica Pimentel, Orange is the New Black) dressing room establish that the show takes its cues from a woman who got murderous in the Big Apple four years prior, and helped get unwitting NYC residents taking a bite out of each other. Meet the series' framing device; before the stage production's star can head to the afterparty, she's face to face with a furious Dolores (Justina Machado, One Day at a Time) herself. The latter isn't there to slay, but to haunt the woman spilling her tale by sharing the real details. Two decades earlier, Dolores was a happy resident of Lin-Manuel Miranda's favourite slice of New York, a drug-dealer's girlfriend, and a fan of the local empanada shop. Then the cops busted in, The Horror of Dolores Roach's namesake refused to snitch and lost 16 years of her life. When she's released, gentrification has changed the neighbourhood and her other half is nowhere to be found. Only Luis Batista (Alejandro Hernandez, New Amsterdam) remains that remembers her, still in the empanada joint, and he couldn't be keener on letting her stay with him in his basement apartment below the store. The Horror of Dolores Roach streams via Prime Video. Read our full review. HUESERA: THE BONE WOMAN The sound of cracking knuckles is one of humanity's most anxiety-inducing. The noise of clicking bones elsewhere? That's even worse. Both help provide Huesera: The Bone Woman's soundtrack — and set the mood for a deeply tense slow-burner that plunges into maternal paranoia like a Mexican riff on Rosemary's Baby, the horror subgenre's perennial all-timer, while also interrogating the reality that bringing children into the world isn't a dream for every woman no matter how much society expects otherwise. Valeria (Natalia Solián, Red Shoes) is thrilled to be pregnant, a state that hasn't come easily. After resorting to praying at a shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in desperation, neither she nor partner Raúl (Alfonso Dosal, Narcos: Mexico) could be happier, even if her sister Vero (Sonia Couoh, 40 Years Young) caustically comments that she's never seemed that interested in motherhood before. Then, two things shake up her hard-fought situation: a surprise run-in with Octavia (Mayra Batalla, Everything Will Be Fine), the ex-girlfriend she once planned to live a completely different life with; and constant glimpses of a slithering woman whose unnatural body movements echo and unsettle. Filmmaker Michelle Garza Cervera (TV series Marea alta) makes her fictional narrative debut with Huesera: The Bone Woman, directing and also writing with first-timer Abia Castillo — and she makes a powerfully chilling and haunting body-horror effort about hopes, dreams, regrets and the torment of being forced into a future that you don't truly foresee as your own. Every aspect of the film, especially Nur Rubio Sherwell's (Don't Blame Karma!) exacting cinematography, reinforces how trapped that Valeria feels even if she can't admit it to herself, and how much that attempting to be the woman Raúl and her family want is eating away at her soul. Solián is fantastic at navigating this journey, including whether the movie is leaning into drama or terror at any given moment. You don't need expressive eyes to be a horror heroine, but she boasts them; she possesses a scream queen's lungs, too. Unsurprisingly, Cervera won the Nora Ephron Award for best female filmmaker at the 2022 Tribeca Film Festival for this instantly memorable nightmare. Huesera: The Bone Woman streams via Shudder. NIMONA Bounding from the page to the screen — well, from pixels first, initially leaping from the web to print — graphic novel-to-film adaptation Nimona goes all in on belonging. Ballister Boldheart (Riz Ahmed, Sound of Metal) wants to fit in desperately, and is willing to do whatever it takes to achieve it. In this animated movie's medieval-yet-futuristic world, there's nothing more important and acclaimed than being part of the Institute for Elite Knights, so that's his aim. Slipping into armour usually isn't possible for someone who grew up on the wrong side of this realm's tracks, as he did, but Ballister has been given a chance by Queen Valerin (Lorraine Toussaint, The Equalizer), who says that anyone can now be a hero. Alas, just as he's about to have his sword placed upon his shoulder with all the world watching, tragedy strikes, then prejudice sets in. Even his fellow knight-in-training and boyfriend Ambrosius Goldenloin (Eugene Lee Yang, Star Wars: Visions), who boasts family ties to legendary monster-slaying heroine Gloreth (Karen Ryan, Under the Banner of Heaven), believes that Ballister is responsible. His only ally? Nimona's namesake (Chloë Grace Moretz, The Peripheral), a shapeshifter who offers to be his sidekick regardless of his innocence or guilt. Nimona usually appears as a human girl, but can change into anything. The shapeshifter also wants to belong — but only by being accepted as she is. Unlike Ballister's feelings of inferiority about being a commoner, Nimona is happy with morphing from a kid to a rhinoceros, a whale to a shark, then between anything else that she can think of, and wouldn't give it up for anyone. Indeed, when Ballister keeps pestering her for reasons to explain why she is like she is, and asking her to remain as a girl, she's adamant. She already is normal, and she rightly won't budge from that belief. Animated with lively and colour animation that sometimes resembles Cartoon Saloon's Song of the Sea and Wolfwalkers, Nimona is a family-friendly adventure and, as penned as a comic by ND Stevenson (She-Ra and the Princesses of Power), also a clear, impassioned and sincere allegory for being true to yourself. As a film, directors Nick Bruno and Troy Quane (who also teamed up on Spies in Disguise) and screenwriters Robert L Baird (Big Hero 6) and Lloyd Taylor (another Spies in Disguise alum) ensure that it remains a thoughtful delight. Nimona streams via Netflix. RETURNING FAVOURITES TO CHECK OUT WEEK BY WEEK FUTURAMA Good news, everyone: Futurama keeps getting thawed out. The small screen's powers that be love defrosting the animated sci-fi series, and viewers should love watching the always-funny results. Not once but twice in the past quarter-century, Matt Groening's other big sitcom has been cancelled then respawned years later. It was true back in 2007 when the show was first reanimated, and it's true again now: whenever Futurama flies across the screen after a stint in stasis, it feels like no time has passed. Groening first spread his talents beyond The Simpsons back in 1999, riffing on Y2K excitement and apprehension, and also leaping forward in time. Futurama's 20th-century pizza delivery guy Philip J Fry (voiced by Billy West, Spitting Image) didn't welcome the 21st century, however; he stumbled into a cryogenic chamber, then awoke to greet the 31st. After tracking down Professor Hubert J Farnsworth (also West), his only living relative, he was soon in the delivery game again — but for intergalactic cargo company Planet Express, in a show that that satirises every vision of the future previously committed to fiction, and with one-eyed ship captain Turanga Leela (Katey Sagal, Dead to Me) and shiny-metal-assed robot Bender Bending Rodríguez (John DiMaggio, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts) by his side. Futurama's initial run lasted four seasons, four years and 78 episodes. Then, the show reappeared in 2007 as a direct-to-DVD movie, followed by three more, which were then turned into episodes for the show's fifth season. Alas, another trio of seasons later, Futurama said goodbye again. Thankfully, when a series not only peers at and parodies the next millennia, but takes an anything-goes approach that's brought everything from robot Santas and soap operas to human-hating alien news anchors and talking celebrity heads in jars, there's always room for a new spin. Still, getting the Planet Express soaring yet again does pose one difficulty: how do you undo a perfect finale? When the prior season ended in 2013, it wrapped up Fry and Leela's on-again, off-again romance in a smart, sweet and widely loved bow. The new instalments pick up exactly where that swansong left off, then unleash a "massive disruption in the flow of time" to move everyone to 3023, then restore the usual status quo. So, Fry, Leela, Bender, the Professor, Jamaican accountant Hermes Conrad (Phil LaMarr, Craig of the Creek), Martian intern Amy Wong (Lauren Tom, Dragons: The Nine Realms) and lobster-esque alien doctor Zoidberg (also West) resume their workplace sitcom antics — in vintage form. Futurama streams Disney+. Read our full review. WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS Following in Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement's footsteps isn't easy, but someone had to do it when What We Do in the Shadows made the leap from the big screen to the small. New format, new location, new vampires, same setup: that's the formula behind this film-to-TV series, which is now in its fifth season. Thankfully for audiences, Matt Berry (Toast of London and Toast of Tinseltown), Natasia Demetriou (Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga) and Kayvan Novak (Cruella) were enlisted as the show's three key bloodsuckers in this US spinoff from the New Zealand mockumentary, all in roles that they each seem born for. The trio play three-century-old British aristocrat Laszlo, his 500-year-old creator and partner Nadja, and early Ottoman Empire warrior Nandor, respectively, who share an abode and the afterlife in Staten Island. In cinemas, the film already proved that the concept works to sidesplitting effect. Vampire housemates, they're just like us — except when they're busting out their fangs, flying, avoiding daylight, sleeping in coffins, feuding with other supernatural creatures and leaving a body count, that is. On TV, What We Do in the Shadows has been illustrating that there's not only ample life left in palling around with the undead, but that there's no limit to the gloriously ridiculous hijinks that these no-longer-living creatures can get up to. It was true as a movie and it's still true as a television show: What We Do in the Shadows sparkles not just due to its premise, but when its characters and cast are both as right as a luminous full moon on a cloudless night. This lineup of actors couldn't be more perfect or comedically gifted, as season five constantly demonstrates via everything from mall trips, political campaigns, pride parades and speed dating to trying to discover why Nandor's long-suffering and ever-dutiful familiar Guillermo (Harvey Guillén, Werewolves Within) hasn't quite started chomping on necks despite being bitten himself. Berry's over-enunciation alone is the best in the business, as is his ability to play confident and cocky. His line readings are exquisite, and also piercingly funny. While that was all a given thanks to his Toast franchise, Year of the Rabbit, The IT Crowd, Snuff Box, The Mighty Boosh and Garth Marenghi's Darkplace history, What We Do in the Shadows is a group effort. Demetriou and Novak keep finding new ways to twist Nadja and Nandor's eccentricities in fresh directions; their characters have felt lived-in since season one, but they're still capable of growth and change. What We Do in the Shadows streams via Binge. Read our full review. THE AFTERPARTY When The Afterparty arrived on Apple TV+ in 2022, riding a wave of revived murder-mystery comedy love that Knives Out and Only Murders in the Building had helped wash over screens big and small, it made one big risky move. Throwing a motley crew of characters together, then offing one? Tried, tested and a favourite for a reason. The ensemble cast attempting to sleuth its way through a shock death? Flawless. The genre-bending setup that saw each episode in the season parody a different style of filmmaking? Perfectly executed. Having the words "how great is this party?" uttered over and over again? That's what could've proven dicey if The Afterparty wasn't in fact great; thankfully, it very much was. There's a reason that phrase kept being uttered, because superfluous detail isn't this show's style: as in all great whodunnits, everything happens, is mentioned or can be spotted with cause. Creator Christopher Miller and his fellow executive producer Phil Lord, a duo with Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, 21 Jump Street and 22 Jump Street, and The Lego Movie on their resumes as co-directors, know the format they're working with. Crucially, they know how carefully their audience will scrutinise every clue and element. And, in the show's first season and now the second season — they also know how to equally honour and spoof. Fittingly, The Afterparty feels like a murder-mystery comedy party as a result. Adoring, irreverent, willing to get loose and shake things up: that's the vibe and approach. In season one, the series' title was literal thanks to a high-school reunion with fateful post-soiree hijinks. In season two, a wedding brings a disparate group together — and, following the nuptials and reception, The Afterparty's moniker comes into play again. To the horror of the returning Aniq Adjaye (Sam Richardson, I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson) and his ex-classmate, now-girlfriend Zoe Zhu (Zoe Chao, Party Down), another body then puts a dampener on the festivities; however, this second go-around doesn't get a-solving just in one night. Aniq and Zoe have recovered from their last confrontation with a killing at a celebration by diving into their romance, but it's the latter's younger sister Grace (Poppy Liu, Dead Ringers) who's getting hitched. Her groom Edgar (Zach Woods, Avenue 5) sports both family money and a cryptocurrency-aided bank-balance boost, he's an all-work-no-play socially awkward type as a result and, when he's alive, he's more fond of his pet lizard than most humans. Then he's found face down after the afterparty, déjà vu arrives and so does the also-returning Danner (Tiffany Haddish, The Card Counter) to sift through the suspects. The Afterparty streams via Apple TV+. Read our full review, and our interview with Sam Richardson. MINX A full-frontal embrace of feminism, penises and 70s porn for women greeted audiences when Minx instantly cemented itself among 2022's best new TV shows. The setup: Vassar graduate and country club regular Joyce Prigger (Ophelia Lovibond, Trying) makes her dream of starting her own magazine come true, but for pornography publisher Doug Renetti (Jake Johnson, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse). Created by Ellen Rapoport (Clifford the Big Red Dog) and executive produced by Paul Feig (Last Christmas), the show wasn't shy about the industry it dived into, even if its protagonist initially was. It wasn't afraid to push the strait-laced Joyce out of her comfort zone, see the empowering side of erotica for the fairer sex and champion the female gaze, either. The end result: a savvy, smart and breezy series that was as layered as it was astute and funny — and, yes, one that happily filled its frames with male genitalia. The show was quickly renewed, but also then cancelled in December 2022 during production as part of David Zaslav's cost-cutting measures at Warner Bros Discovery. Then, fellow American network Starz stepped in to save it. Watching Minx's bigger, richer and deeper second season, it's mindboggling to think that it almost didn't make it to screens. "Minx is back and better than ever," announces Doug with his usual shambling brand of swagger — the kind that Johnson long-perfected in New Girl, and also in film roles in Drinking Buddies and Win It All — and he isn't wrong. Of course, he's talking about the series' eponymous erotic mag, not the series itself, but he's on the money. First, though, the again vibrantly shot, styled and costumed show has season-one finale fallout to deal with, after Joyce and Doug ended their tumultuous working relationship. The former goes looking for a new publisher, with boardrooms overflowing with men dropping compliments and promising money awaiting. Then billionaire and ex-shipping industry titan Constance Papadopoulos (Elizabeth Perkins, The Afterparty) shows an interest in the magazine, in supporting and mentoring Joyce, and in having Doug involved — and the Minx gang, including former model Bambi (Jessica Lowe, Miracle Workers), photographer Richie (Oscar Montoya, Final Space), Doug's girlfriend and ex-secretary Tina (Idara Victor, Shameless), and Joyce's sister Shelly (Lennon Parham, Veep), are back together. Minx streams via Stan. Read our full review. Need a few more streaming recommendations? Check out our picks from January, February, March, April, May and June this year. You can also check out our running list of standout must-stream shows from this year as well — and our best 15 new shows of 2023's first six months, top 15 returning shows over the same period and best 15 straight-to-streaming movies from January–June 2023, too. Top image: Parrish Lewis/Netflix.
Underbelly Arts is the festival weekend that’s a fortnight, that’s a biennial. Starting out in 2007 as an arts festival that let you get behind the scenes before you saw the shows, Underbelly Arts has gone through various incarnations and locations before settling in at Cockatoo Island to become its other resident art festival, alternating with the Biennale. Last year, Underbelly Arts took its first year off to try to become a year-on, year-off festival. This year, it’s on. And with its program just launched, we get to see whether the wait was worth it. The festival is divided into two crucial parts. The second part — the Festival weekend — consists of two days of performances, art and adventure for the visiting public. But the public are also invited to the first part — the Lab — where they can see the artists put their work together, workshop, test and reassess their ambitions for the festival itself. The Lab runs July 24–31 and is free. The Festival is ticketed, and early bird tickets have just popped up, on sale until July 3. The Festival sold out last time around and, all in all, it looks like a pretty promising line up for 2013. Over one weekend in August, the Art Workers make reference to Chaplin’s Modern Times in Art Work and Abdul Abdullah and brother Abdul-Rahman explore their past Bankstown digs in Project HOME. Art Month 2013 co artistic curators Penelope Benton and Alexandra Clapham will unpack Tableau Vivant, the latest incarnation of their ongoing art dining projects, Applespiel will weave alternative takes on the idea of 'history', the adjective 'true' and the place 'Cockatoo Island', while Andrew Burrell and Chris Rodley channel Jonathan Harris for Everything is Going to Be Okay :) Brixels revitalises the idea of Breakout, as well as the idea of playing Breakout on a wall, Nothing to See Here reshapes the city’s landmarks with ideas from an unbuilt Holocaust memorial, while the Lot engage with Cockatoo Island’s landmarks in Mammoth: the Anti-Artifact Project. Not enough? Artist Warren Armstrong is also offering to print out your brain. Read more about eight pioneering Underbelly Arts projects in our feature. Top image by Dylan Tonkin, second image by Prudence Upton.
On the small screen, 2023 started by showing the world exactly how a beloved video game should be turned into a television series. By the time the year had reached its midpoint, it had delivered one of the best TV murder-mysteries ever — from Australia, too, and also a smart and savvy comedy. Now that 2024 is almost upon us, a cringe-inducing parody of reality home-improvement programs, among a wealth of other targets, has proven a late-in-the-year stunner. So, as the best new TV shows of 2023 illustrate, no one can say that there hasn't been anything new to watch over the past 12 months. This year's television slate also gave viewers a subversive social satire, a David Cronenberg body-horror masterpiece turned into TV and a calming show about friendship in Japan. They're all among the best of the top brand-new arrivals, as are an eat-the-rich horror gem, a telemarketing true tale that has to be seen to be believed and a side-splitting history-of-the-world mockumentary. Here's an even better piece of news: not only has the past year been exceptional for television, but summer is a glorious time to reflect, revisit and, if you need to, work through your catch-up list. After filling 2023 viewing and rounding up TV highlights — and first selecting the must-sees midyear — we've now whittled down the results of all that couch time to the 15 best small-screen newcomers. THE CURSE It has always been impossible to watch TV shows by Nathan Fielder, including Nathan for You and The Rehearsal, without feeling awkwardness gushing from the screen. The films of Josh and Benny Safdie, such as Good Time and Uncut Gems, are such masterclasses in anxiety and chaos that viewers can be forgiven for thinking that their chairs are jittering along with them. From Easy A, La La Land and Maniac to The Favourite and Poor Things, Emma Stone keeps proving an inimitable acting force. Combine Fielder, the Safdies and Stone on one series, then, and whatever sprang was always going to be a must-see. Dark satire The Curse is also as extraordinary in its brilliance as it is excruciating in its discomfort. As well as co-creating the ten-part series, Fielder and Benny Safdie co-star, co-write and co-direct. Stone joins them on-screen and as an executive producer, with Benny's brother Josh doing the latter as well. And the Safdies' regular collaborator Oneohtrix Point Never, aka Daniel Lopatin, gets the show buzzing with atmospheric agitation in one of his best scores yet. Yes, The Curse is everything that the sum of these parts promises. It flows with disquiet like a burst hydrant. It fills each almost hour-long episode with a lifetime's worth of cringe. It's relentless in its unease, and also a marvellous, intense and hilarious black comedy that apes the metal Doug Aitken-esque houses that Stone and Fielder's Whitney and Asher Siegel like to build, reflecting oh-so-much about the world around it. The Curse takes the show-within-a-show route, with the Siegels eager to grace the world's screens as reality TV hosts spruiking environmentally sustainable passive homes in New Mexico's Española. The newly married pair have American pay TV network Home & Garden Television interested in Fliplanthropy, as well as their efforts to green up the community, create jobs for locals, and revitalise a place otherwise equated with struggling and crime stats. Lurking between the couple and HGTV is producer Dougie Schecter (Safdie, Oppenheimer), Asher's childhood friend with a nose for sensationalism — particularly as disharmony lingers among his stars as they try to start a family, get their show on the air, build their gleaming houses, find ideal buyers, honour the area's Indigenous history and overcome The Curse's title. The Curse streams via Paramount+. Read our full review. DEADLOCH Trust Kate McCartney and Kate McLennan, Australia's favourite Kates and funniest double act, to make a killer TV show about chasing a killer that's the perfect sum of two excellent halves. Given their individual and shared backgrounds, including creating and starring in cooking show sendup The Katering Show and morning television spoof Get Krack!n, the pair unsurprisingly add another reason to get chuckling to their resumes; however, with Deadloch, they also turn their attention to crime procedurals. The Kates already know how to make viewers laugh. They've established their talents as brilliant satirists and lovers of the absurd in the process. Now, splashing around those skills in Deadloch's exceptional eight-episode first season lead by Kate Box (Stateless) and Madeleine Sami (The Breaker Upperers), they've also crafted a dead-set stellar murder-mystery series that ranks among The Kates' best work in almost every way. The only time that it doesn't? Not putting the tremendous pair on-screen themselves. Taking place in a sleepy small town, commencing with a body on a beach, and following both the local cop trying to solve the case and the gung-ho blow-in from a big city leading the enquiries, Deadloch has all the crime genre basics covered from the get-go. The Tasmanian spot scandalised by the death is a sitcom-esque quirky community, another television staple that McCartney and McLennan nail. Parody requires deep knowledge and understanding; you can't comically rip into and riff on something if you aren't familiar with its every in and out. That said, Deadloch isn't in the business of simply mining well-worn TV setups and their myriad of conventions for giggles, although it does that expertly. With whip-smart writing, the Australian series is intelligent, hilarious, and all-round cracking as a whodunnit-style noir drama and as a comedy alike — and, as Box's by-the-book Senior Sergeant Dulcie Collins and Sami's loose and chaotic Darwin blow-in Eddie Redcliffe are forced to team up, it's also one of the streaming highlights of the year. Deadloch streams via Prime Video. Read our full review, and our interview with Kate McCartney and Kate McLennan. I'M A VIRGO No one makes social satires like Boots Riley. Late in I'm a Virgo, when a character proclaims that "all art is propaganda", these words may as well be coming from The Coup frontman-turned-filmmaker's very own lips. In only his second screen project after the equally impassioned, intelligent, energetic, anarchic and exceptional 2018 film Sorry to Bother You, Riley doesn't have his latest struggling and striving hero utter this sentiment, however. Rather, it springs from the billionaire technology mogul also known as The Hero (Walton Goggins, George & Tammy), who's gleefully made himself the nemesis of 13-foot-tall series protagonist Cootie (Jharrel Jerome, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse). Knowing that all stories make a statement isn't just the domain of activists fighting for better futures for the masses, as Riley is, and he wants to ensure that his audience knows it. Indeed, I'm a Virgo is a show with something to say, and forcefully. Its creator is angry again, too, and wants everyone giving him their time to be bothered — and he still isn't sorry for a second. With Jerome as well-cast a lead as Atlanta's Lakeith Stanfield was the last time that Riley was behind the lens, I'm a Virgo also hinges upon a surreal central detail: instead of a Black telemarketer discovering the impact of his "white voice", it hones in on the oversized Cootie. When it comes to assimilation, consider this series Sorry to Bother You's flipside, because there's no way that a young Black man that's more than double the tallest average height is passing for anyone but himself. Riley knows that Black men are too often seen as threats and targets regardless of their stature anyway. He's read the research showing that white folks can perceive Black boys as older and less innocent. As Cootie wades through these experiences himself, there isn't a single aspect of I'm a Virgo that doesn't convey Riley's ire at the state of the world — that doesn't virtually scream about it, actually — with this series going big and bold over and over. I'm a Virgo streams via Prime Video. Read our full review. DEAD RINGERS Twin gynaecologists at the top of their game. Blood-red costuming and bodily fluids. The kind of perturbing mood that seeing flesh as a source of horror does and must bring. An exquisite eye for stylish yet unsettling imagery. Utterly impeccable lead casting. When 1988's Dead Ringers hit cinemas, it was with this exact combination, all in the hands of David Cronenberg following Shivers, The Brood, Scanners, Videodrome and The Fly. He took inspiration from real-life siblings Stewart and Cyril Marcus, whose existence was fictionalised in 1977 novel Twins by Bari Wood and Jack Geasland, and turned it into something spectacularly haunting. Attempting to stitch together those parts again, this time without the Crimes of the Future filmmaker at the helm — and as a miniseries, too — on paper seems as wild a feat as some of modern medicine's biggest advancements. This time starring a phenomenal Rachel Weisz as both Beverly and Elliot Mantle, and birthed by Lady Macbeth and The Wonder screenwriter Alice Birch, Dead Ringers 2.0 is indeed an achievement. It's also another masterpiece. Playing the gender-swapped roles that Jeremy Irons (House of Gucci) inhabited so commandingly 35 years back, Weisz (Black Widow) is quiet, calm, dutiful, sensible and yearning as Beverly, then volatile, outspoken, blunt, reckless and rebellious as Elliot. Her performance as each is that distinct — that fleshed-out as well — that it leaves viewers thinking they're seeing double. Of course, technical trickery is also behind the duplicate portrayals, with directors Sean Durkin (The Nest), Karena Evans (Snowfall), Lauren Wolkstein (The Strange Ones) and Karyn Kusama's (Destroyer) behind the show's lens; however, Weisz is devastatingly convincing. Beverly is also the patient-facing doctor of the two, helping usher women into motherhood, while Elliot prefers tinkering in a state-of-the-art lab trying to push the boundaries of fertility. Still, the pair are forever together or, with unwitting patients and dates alike, swapping places and pretending to be each other. Most folks in their company don't know what hit them, which includes actor Genevieve (Britne Oldford, The Umbrella Academy), who segues from a patient to Beverly's girlfriend — and big-pharma billionaire Rebecca (Jennifer Ehle, She Said), who Dead Ringers' weird sisters court to fund their dream birthing centre. Dead Ringers streams via Prime Video. Read our full review. THE LAST OF US If the end of the world comes, or a parasitic fungus evolves via climate change, spreads globally, infests brains en masse and almost wipes out humanity, spectacular video game-to-TV adaptation The Last of Us will have you wanting Pedro Pascal in your corner. Already a standout in Game of Thrones, then Narcos, then The Mandalorian, he's perfectly cast in HBO's blockbuster series — a character-driven show that ruminates on what it means to not just survive but to want to live and thrive after the apocalypse. In this smart and gripping series (one that's thankfully already been renewed for season two, too), he plays Joel. Dad to teenager Sarah (Nico Parker, The Third Day), he's consumed by grief and loss after what starts as a normal day, and his birthday, changes everything for everyone. Twenty years later, he's a smuggler tasked with tapping into his paternal instincts to accompany a different young girl, the headstrong Ellie (Bella Ramsey, Catherine Called Birdy), on a perilous but potentially existence-saving trip across the US. Starting to watch The Last of Us, or even merely describing it, is an instant exercise in déjà vu. Whether or not you've played the hit game since it first arrived in 2013, or its 2014 expansion pack, 2020 sequel or 2022 remake, its nine-part TV iteration ventures where plenty of on-screen fare including The Road and The Walking Dead has previously trodden. The best example that springs to mind during The Last of Us is Station Eleven, however, which is the heartiest of compliments given how thoughtful, empathetic and textured that 2021–22 series proved. As everything about pandemics, contagions and diseases that upend the world order now does, The Last of Us feels steeped in stone-cold reality as well, as spearheaded by a co-creator, executive producer, writer and director who has already turned an IRL doomsday into stunning television with Chernobyl. That creative force is Craig Mazin, teaming up with Neil Druckmann from Naughty Dog, who also wrote and directed The Last of Us games. The Last of Us streams via Binge. Read our full review, and our interview with Melanie Lynskey. THE MAKANAI: COOKING FOR THE MAIKO HOUSE At the beginning of The Makanai: Cooking for the Maiko House, 16-year-old best friends Kiyo (Nana Mori, Liar x Liar) and Sumire (Natsuki Deguchi, Silent Parade) leave home for the first time with smiles as wide as their hearts are open. Departing the rural Aomari for Kyoto in the thick of winter, they have internships as maiko lined up — apprentice geiko, as geishas are called in the Kyoto dialect. Their path to their dearest wishes isn't all sunshine and cherry blossoms from there, of course, but this is a series that lingers on the details, on slices of life, and on everyday events rather than big dramatic developments. Watch, for instance, how lovingly Kiyo and Sumire's last meal is lensed before they set out for their new future, and how devotedly the camera surveys the humble act of sitting down to share a dumpling soup, legs tucked beneath blankets under the table, while having an ordinary conversation. Soothing, tender, compassionate, bubbling with warmth: that's The Makanai: Cooking for the Maiko House from the outset. There's a key reason that this cosy and comforting new treasure overflows with such affection and understanding — for its characters, their lives and just the act of living. Prolific writer/director Hirokazu Kore-eda simply isn't capable of anything else. Yes, Netflix has been in the auteur game of late, and The Makanai: Cooking for the Maiko House is unmistakably the work of its rightly applauded creative force. One of the biggest names in Japanese cinema today, and the winner of the received Cannes Film Festival's Palme d'Or back in 2018 for the sublime Shoplifters, Kore-eda makes empathetic, rich and deeply emotional works. His movies, including the France-set The Truth and South Korea-set Broker, truly see the people within their frames. On the small screen, and hailing from manga, the nine-episode The Makanai is no different. It's also as calming as a show about friendships, chasing dreams and devouring ample dumplings can and should be. The Makanai: Cooking for the Maiko House streams via Netflix. FULL CIRCLE Whether on screens big and small, when an audience watches a Steven Soderbergh project, they're watching one of America's great current directors ply his full range of filmmaking skills. Usually, he doesn't just helm. Going by Peter Andrews and Mary Ann Bernard — aliases from his parents' names — he shoots and edits as well. And he's prolific: since advising that he'd retire from making features after Side Effects, he's directed, lensed and spliced nine more, plus three TV shows. Among those titles sit movies such as Logan Lucky, Unsane, Kimi and Magic Mike's Last Dance; the exceptional two seasons of turn-of-the-20th-century medical drama The Knick; and now New York-set kidnapping miniseries Full Circle. The filmmaker who won Cannes Film Festival's Palme d'Or at 26 for Sex, Lies and Videotape, earned two Best Director Oscars in one year for Traffic and Erin Brockovich, brought the Ocean's franchise back to cinemas in 2001, and eerily predicted the COVID-19 pandemic with 2011's Contagion is in his element with his latest work. Six-part noir-influenced thriller Full Circle reunites Soderbergh with Mosaic and No Sudden Move screenwriter Ed Solomon, boasts a starry cast, involves money and secrets and deception, and proves a twisty and layered crime tale from the get-go. Full Circle starts with a murder, then a revenge plot, then a missing smartphone. These early inclusions all tie into an intricate narrative that will indeed demonstrate inevitability, cause and effect, the repercussions of our actions, and decisions looping back around. The pivotal death forms part of a turf war, sparking a campaign of retaliation by Queens-based Guyanese community leader and insurance scammer Savitri Mahabir (CCH Pounder, Avatar: The Way of Water). She enlists freshly arrived teens Xavier (Sheyi Cole, Atlanta) and Louis (Gerald Jones, Armageddon Time) to do the seizing under her nephew Aked's (Jharrel Jerome, I'm a Virgo) supervision; one of the newcomers is the brother of the latter's fiancée Natalia (Adia, The Midnight Club), who is also Savitri's masseuse. The target: Manhattan high-schooler Jared (Ethan Stoddard, Mysteries at the Museum), son of the wealthy and privileged Sam (Claire Danes, Fleishman Is in Trouble) and Derek Browne (Timothy Olyphant, Daisy Jones & The Six), and grandson through Sam to ponytailed celebrity chef Jeff McCusker (Dennis Quaid, Strange World). Savitri is convinced that this is the only way to stave off the curse she's certain is hanging over her business — a "broken circle", in fact. But, much to the frustration of the US Postal Inspection Service's Manny Broward (Jim Gaffigan, Peter Pan & Wendy), his go-for-broke agent Melody Harmony (Zazie Beetz, Black Mirror) is already investigating before the abduction. Full Circle streams via Binge. Read our full review. RAIN DOGS In 2019's Skint Estate, Cash Carraway told all; A memoir of poverty, motherhood and survival completes the book's full title. Penned about working-class Britain from within working-class Britain, Carraway's written jaunt through her own life steps through the reality of being a single mum without a permanent place to live, of struggling to get by at every second, and of being around the system since she was a teenager. It examines alcoholism, loneliness, mental illness and domestic violence, too, plus refuges, working at peep shows, getting groceries from food banks and hopping between whatever temporary accommodation is available. Rain Dogs isn't a direct adaptation. It doesn't purport to bring Carraway's experiences to the screen exactly as they happened, or with slavish fidelity to the specific details. But this HBO and BBC eight-parter remains not only raw, rich, honest and authentic but lived in, as it tells the same story with candour, humour, warmth and poignancy. Slipping into Carraway's fictionalised shoes is Daisy May Cooper — and she's outstanding. Her on-screen resume includes Avenue 5 and Am I Being Unreasonable?, as well as being a team captain on the latest iteration of Britain's Spicks and Specks-inspiring Never Mind the Buzzcocks, but she's a force to be reckoned with as aspiring writer and mum (to Iris, played by debutant Fleur Tashjian) Costello Jones. When Rain Dogs begins, it's with an eviction. Cooper lives and breathes determination as Costello then scrambles to find somewhere for her and Iris to stay next. But this isn't just their tale, with the pair's lives intersecting with the privileged but self-destructive Selby (Jack Farthing, Spencer), who completes their unconventional and dysfunctional family but tussles with his mental health. Including Costello's best friend Gloria (Ronke Adekoluejo, Alex Rider), plus ailing artist Lenny (The Young Ones legend Adrian Edmondson), this is a clear-eyed look at chasing a place to belong — and it's remarkable. Rain Dogs streams via Binge. Read our full review. SILO Rebecca Ferguson will never be mistaken for Daveed Diggs, but the Dune, Mission: Impossible franchise and Doctor Sleep star now follows in the Hamilton Tony-winner's footsteps. While he has spent multiple seasons navigating dystopian class clashes on a globe-circling train in the TV version of Snowpiercer, battling his way up and down the titular locomotive, she just started ascending and descending the stairs in the underground chamber that gives Silo its moniker. Ferguson's character is also among humanity's last remnants. Attempting to endure in post-apocalyptic times, she hails from her abode's lowliest depths as well. And, when there's a murder in this instantly engrossing new ten-part series — which leaps to the screen from Hugh Howey's novels, and shares a few basic parts with Metropolis, Blade Runner and The Platform, as well as corrupt world orders at the core of The Hunger Games and The Maze Runner flicks — she's soon playing detective. Silo captivates from the outset, when its focus is the structure's sheriff Holston (David Oyelowo, See How They Run) and his wife Allison (Rashida Jones, On the Rocks). Both know the cardinal rule of the buried tower, as does deputy Marnes (Will Patton, Outer Range), mayor Ruth (Geraldine James, Benediction), security head Sims (Common, The Hate U Give), IT top brass Bernard (Tim Robbins, Dark Waters) and the other 10,000 souls they live with: if you make the request to go outside, it's irrevocable and you'll be sent there as punishment. No matter who you are, and from which level, anyone posing such a plea becomes a public spectacle. Their ask is framed as "cleaning", referring to wiping down the camera that beams the desolate planet around them onto window-sized screens in their cafeterias. No one has ever come back, or survived for more than minutes. Why? Add that to the questions piling up not just for Silo's viewers, but for the silo's residents. For more than 140 years, the latter have dwelled across their 144 floors in safety from the bleak wasteland that earth has become — but what caused that destruction and who built their cavernous home are among the other queries. Silo streams via Apple TV+. Read our full review. BEEF As plenty does, Beef starts with two strangers meeting, but there's absolutely nothing cute about it. Sparks don't fly and hearts don't flutter; instead, this pair grinds each other's gears. In a case of deep and passionate hate at first sight, Danny Cho (Steven Yeun, Nope) and Amy Lau (Ali Wong, Paper Girls) give their respective vehicles' gearboxes a workout, in fact, after he begins to pull out of a hardware store carpark, she honks behind him, and lewd hand signals and terse words are exchanged. Food is thrown, streets are angrily raced down, gardens are ruined, accidents are barely avoided, and the name of Vin Diesel's famous car franchise springs to mind, aptly describing how bitterly these two strangers feel about each other — and how quickly. Created by Lee Sung Jin, who has It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Dave and Silicon Valley on his resume before this ten-part Netflix and A24 collaboration, Beef also commences with a simple, indisputable and deeply relatable fact. Whether you're a struggling contractor hardly making ends meet, as he is, or a store-owning entrepreneur trying to secure a big deal, as she is — or, if you're both, neither or anywhere in-between — pettiness reigning supreme is basic human nature. Danny could've just let Amy beep as much as she liked, then waved, apologised and driven away. Amy could've been more courteous about sounding her horn, and afterwards. But each feels immediately slighted by the other, isn't willing to stand for such an indignity and becomes consumed by their trivial spat. Neither takes the high road, not once — and if you've ever gotten irrationally irate about a minor incident, this new standout understands. Episode by episode, it sees that annoyance fester and exasperation grow, too. Beef spends its run with two people who can't let go of their instant rage, keep trying to get the other back, get even more incensed in response, and just add more fuel to the fire again and again until their whole existence is a blaze of revenge. If you've ever taken a small thing and blown it wildly out of proportion, Beef is also on the same wavelength. And if any of the above has ever made you question your entire life — or just the daily grind of endeavouring to get by, having everything go wrong, feeling unappreciated and constantly working — Beef might just feel like it was made for you. Beef streams via Netflix. Read our full review. THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER Of the many pies that Succession's Roy family had their fingers in, pharmaceuticals wasn't one of them. For virtually that, Mike Flanagan gives audiences The Fall of the House of Usher. The horror auteur's take on dynastic wealth gets a-fluttering through a world of decadence enabled by pushing pills legally, as six heirs to an addiction-laced kingdom vie to inherit a vast fortune. Flanagan hasn't given up his favourite genre for pure drama, however. The eponymous Usher offspring won't be enjoying the spoils of their father Roderick's (Bruce Greenwood, The Resident) business success, either, in this absorbing, visually ravishing and narratively riveting eight-parter. As the bulk of this tale is unfurled fireside, its patriarch tells federal prosecutor C Auguste Dupin (Carl Lumbly, SWAT) why his children (including Pet Sematary: Bloodlines' Henry Thomas, Minx's Samantha Sloyan, The Peripheral's T'Nia Miller, iZombie's Rahul Kohli, The Wrath of Becky's Kate Siegel and The Midnight Club's Sauriyan Sapkota) came to die within days of each other — and, with all the gory details, how. As with The Haunting of Hill House and The Haunting of Bly Manor before it, plus The Midnight Club as well, Flanagan's latest Netflix series finds its basis on the page. The author this time: Edgar Allan Poe, although The Fall of the House of Usher isn't a strict adaptation of the iconic author's 1840 short story of the same name, or just an adaptation, even as it bubbles with greed, violence and paranoia (plus death, loss, decay and the deceased haunting the livin)g. Character monikers, episode titles and other details spring from widely across Poe's bibliography. Cue ravens, black cats, masks, tell-tale hearts, pendulums and a Rue Morgue. What if the writer had penned Succession? That's one of Flanagan's questions — and what if he'd penned Dopesick and Painkiller, too? Hailing from the talent behind the exceptional Midnight Mass as well, plus movies Oculus, Hush, Ouija: Origin of Evil, Gerald's Game and Doctor Sleep, the series that results is a gloriously creepy and involving modern gothic horror entry. The Fall of the House of Usher streams via Netflix. Read our full review. POKER FACE Cards on the table: thanks to Russian Doll and the Knives Out franchise, Natasha Lyonne and Rian Johnson are both on a helluva streak. In their most recent projects before now, each has enjoyed a hot run not once but twice. Lyonne made time trickery one of the best new shows of 2019, plus a returning standout in 2022 as well, while Johnson's first Benoit Blanc whodunnit and followup Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery were gems of the exact same years. The latter also saw the pair team up briefly — Lyonne and Johnson, that is, although getting a Russian Doll-meets-Knives Out crossover from the universe, or just the Netflix algorithm, would be a dream. Until that wish comes true, there's Poker Face. It's no one's stopgap or consolation prize, however. This new mystery-of-the-week series is an all-out must-see in its own right, and a gleaming streaming ace. Given its components and concept, turning out otherwise would've been the biggest head-scratcher. Beneath aviator shades, a trucker cap and her recognisable locks, Lyonne plays detective again, as she did in Russian Doll — because investigating why you're looping through the same day over and over, or jumping through time, is still investigating. Johnson gives the world another sleuth, too, after offering up his own spin on Agatha Christie-style gumshoes with the ongoing Knives Out saga. This time, he's dancing with 1968–2003 television series Columbo, right down to Poker Face's title font. Lyonne isn't one for playing conventional detectives, though. Here, she's Charlie Cale, who starts poking around in sudden deaths thanks to an unusual gift and a personal tragedy. As outlined in the show's ten-part first season, Charlie is a human lie detector. She can always tell if someone is being untruthful, a knack she first used in gambling before getting on the wrong side of the wrong people. Then, when a friend and colleague at the far-from-flashy Las Vegas casino where Charlie works winds up dead, that talent couldn't be handier. Poker Face streams via Stan. Read our full review. TELEMARKETERS No one likes it when their phone rings from an unknown number, whether "no caller ID" or digits that you don't recognise flash up on your mobile's screen. Telemarketers isn't going to change that response. It won't dampen the collective ire that the world holds towards the pushy people on the other end of the line, either. HBO's thrilling three-part docuseries doesn't just reinforce what viewers already feel about the nuisance industry that thinks it can interrupt your day and life with a spiel that no one wants, and impact your bank balance in the process. In addition, it spins a true tale that demonstrates why a deep-seated dislike of telemarketing is so well-founded, and also why cold-calling operations can be so insidious. This true-crime story about the New Jersey-based Civic Development Group surpasses even the most call centre-despising audience member's low expectations of the field — and it's gripping, can't-look-away, has-to-be-seen-to-be-believed stuff. In fact, it's also an account of a tenacious duo revealing a billion-dollar fraud, and bringing this staggering whistleblower documentary to the masses. "Every other telemarketer who drives you crazy in the whole world is because of CDG," advises one of the series' interviewees. That might seem like a big claim, but co-directors Sam Lipman-Stern (Live From the Streets) and Adam Bhala Lough (The New Radical) step through its truth. The former knows the outfit's approach from experience, working there for seven years from the age of 14 after dropping out of high school, while the latter is the filmmaker cousin he wasn't aware of. Lipman-Stern is Telemarketers' on-screen guiding hand, too, but his ex-colleague Patrick J Pespas is its heart and soul. As seen early, Pespas is called a "telemarketing legend". Although he's happy snorting heroin on-camera in 2000s-era footage, he's switched on to CDG's shonkiness; more than that, he's determined to expose it even if it takes two decades. Everywhere that Lipman-Stern and Pespas look from there, this tale gets worse. It's no wonder that Uncut Gems and Good Time filmmakers Benny and Josh Safdie are among Telemarketers' executive producers, plus Eastbound & Down's Danny McBride, Jody Hill and David Gordon Green. Telemarketers streams via Binge. Read our full review. SWARM Becky with the good hair gets a shoutout in Swarm. Facial bites do as well, complete with a Love & Basketball reference when the culprit flees. This seven-part series about a global pop sensation and her buzzing fans and stans also has its music icon unexpectedly drop a stunner of a visual album, ride a white horse, be married to a well-known rapper, become a mum to twins and see said husband fight with her sister in an elevator. Her sibling is also a singer, and plenty of folks contend she's the more interesting of the two. Still, Swarm's object of fascination — protagonist Dre's (Dominique Fishback, Judas and the Black Messiah) undying obsession — sells out tours, breaks Ticketmaster and headlines one of the biggest music festivals there is. And, while they call themselves the titular term rather than a hive, her devotees are zealous and then some, especially humming around on social media. Donald Glover and Janine Nabers, the show's creators and past colleagues on Glover's exceptional, now-finished Atlanta — Nabers also worked on Watchmen, too — couldn't be more upfront about who they're referring to. No one says Beyoncé's name, however, but Swarm's Houston-born music megastar is the former Destiny's Child singer in everything except moniker. In case anyone watching thinks that this series is trading in coincidences and déjà vu, or just failing to be subtle when it comes to Ni'Jah (Nirine S Brown, Ruthless), the Prime Video newcomer keeps making an overt opening declaration. "This is not a work of fiction. Any similarity to actual persons, living or dead, or events, is intentional," it announces before each episode. From there, it dives into Dre's journey as a twentysomething in 2016 who still adores her childhood idol with the same passion she did as a teen and, instalment by instalment, shows how far she's willing to go to prove it. Swarm streams via Prime Video. Read our full review. CUNK ON EARTH If you've ever watched a David Attenborough documentary about the planet and wished it was sillier and stupider, to the point of being entertainingly ridiculous and ridiculously entertaining alike, then Netflix comes bearing wonderful news. Actually, the BBC got there first, airing history-of-the-world mockumentary Cunk on Earth back in September 2022. Glorious things come to waiting viewers Down Under now, however — and this gleefully, delightfully absurd take on human civilisation from its earliest days till now, spanning cave paintings, Roman empires, Star Wars' empire, 1989 Belgian techno anthem 'Pump Up the Jam' and more, is one of the best shows to hit Australia in 2023. This series is a comedy masterclass, in fact, featuring everything from a Black Mirror-leaning skit about Beethoven resurrected inside a smart speaker to a recreation of a Dark Ages fray purely through sound also thrown in. It's flat-out masterful, too, and tremendously funny. This sometimes Technotronic-soundtracked five-part show's beat? Surveying how humanity came to its present state, stretching back through species' origins and evolution, and pondering everything from whether the Egyptian pyramids were built from the top down to the Cold War bringing about the "Soviet onion". The audience's guide across this condensed and comic history is the tweed-wearing Philomena Cunk, who has the steady voice of seasoned doco presenter down pat, plus the solemn gaze, but is firmly a fictional — and satirical — character. Comedian Diane Morgan first started playing the misinformed interviewer in 2013, in Charlie Brooker's Weekly Wipe, with Black Mirror creator Brooker behind Cunk on Earth as well. Over the past decade, Cunk has also brought her odd questions to 2016's one-off Cunk on Shakespeare and Cunk on Christmas, and 2018's also five-instalment Cunk on Britain. After you're done with the character's latest spin, you'll want to devour the rest ASAP. Cunk on Earth streams via Netflix. Read our full review, and our interview with Charlie Brooker. Looking for more viewing highlights? We also rounded up the 15 best returning TV series of 2023, as well as 15 excellent new TV shows of 2023 that you might've missed — plus the 15 top films, another 15 exceptional flicks that hardly anyone saw in cinemas this year and the 15 best straight-to-streaming movies of the year as well. And, we've kept a running list of must-stream TV from across the year, complete with full reviews. Also, you can check out our regular rundown of film and TV streaming recommendations, which is updated monthly.
It's hard to say where Sydney's dining scene is headed at the moment, but one thing's for sure — fine dining is fading. While the opening of swanky-but-casual eateries like Restaurant Hubert, Mercado and Bistrot Gavroche in Sydney and Ôter and Entrecôte in Melbourne suggest an era of European bistros, in the last few weeks alone we've had news that Sydney's Sepia and Marque will be closing, and Andrew McConnell's Moon Under Water will be transforming into a more casual Chinese eatery. The latest to flick away the fine dining title? Neil Perry's Rockpool Est. 1989. In a statement released this morning, owners Perry and Trish Richards announced they will be closing their flagship restaurant on Saturday, July 30. They won't be moving out of the space though — they'll reopen just over a week later on Monday, August 8 as the more casual, a la carte Eleven Bridge. "Rockpool has been our flagship restaurant for almost three decades," said Perry. "We're moving away from that traditional concept of fine dining but maintaining all the elements that are crucial to great dining; excellent produce and service, and a contemporary style." For anyone confused, Rockpool Est. 1989 is the one located on Bridge Street in Sydney's CBD. Part of the reason for decided to close the restaurant is that their second Sydney venue, Rockpool Bar & Grill, is located super close by on Hunter Street. Perry also has another Rockpool Bar & Grill in Melbourne's Crown complex. So for anyone looking to have one last (or first) steak at the almost-thirty-year-old restaurant, you've only got two more months to do so. Godspeed. Rockpool Est. 1989's last service will be dinner Saturday, 30 July, with Eleven Bridge opening on Monday, 8 August. For more info or to make a booking, visit rockpool.com.
Dig out the Thai fisherman pants from the back of your closet, Woodford Folk Festival is back for another year. If you've never been, Woodford is the perfect place to disconnect from the daily grind, become one with nature (read: mud) and check out some of Australians best musicians with a chilled and festive vibe. This year's offering is no exception; the recently released lineup has 'best summer ever' written all over it. Festival mainstays like The Cat Empire and Lior will be back once again. They will also be joined by an A-list crowd of Australian ladies like Kate Miller-Heidke, Bertie Blackman, and Mia Dyson. But the real crowdpleaser will come from The Violent Femmes. Who wouldn't want to listen to 'Blister in the Sun' while dancing in the wilderness in the height of summer? Bliss. Though The Violent Femmes may be a little past their prime, there will also be a bunch of up and coming musicians on stage. Husky and Hiatus Kaiyote will be representing Melbourne talent and The Cairos will be playing to what's basically a home crowd. With over 400 acts jammed into the full program, Woodford is all about discovering new sounds. As well as music, the festival covers visual arts, circus, comedy, vaudeville and dance. Set up camp, let your hair get knotty, and roam the makeshift tarpaulin towns of this super chilled festival. It's time to channel your inner hippy. Woodford Folk Festival is on from December 27 - January 1. Tickets are on sale now. Lineup highlights Archie Roach Bertie Blackman The Cairos The Cat Empire Christine Anu Darren Middleton (ex-Powderfinger) Del Barber The East Pointers Hiatus Kiayote Husky Jeff Lang Jenn Grant John Smith Kate Miller-Heidke Lau Led Kaapana Lior Matt Anderson Mia Dyson Nahko and Medicine for the People Shooglenifty Sticky Fingers Tiny Ruins The Topp Twins Violent Femmes We Two Thieves Via Music Feeds.
Over the past 13 years, plenty of excellent filmmakers have helmed Marvel movies, including Iron Man's Jon Favreau, Thor's Kenneth Branagh, Thor: Ragnarok's Taika Waititi and Black Panther's Ryan Coogler. But none have a Best Director Oscar to their name, or made history by winning said coveted accolade — until, come October this year, Nomadland's Chloé Zhao adds a film to the always-expanding Marvel Cinematic Universe. That movie: Eternals. Focusing on an immortal alien race, and boasting a cast spanning Angelina Jolie (Maleficent: Mistress of Evil), Kumail Nanjiani (Stuber), Salma Hayek (Like a Boss), Barry Keoghan (Calm with Horses), Gemma Chan (Captain Marvel), Brian Tyree Henry (Superintelligence), and Game of Thrones co-stars Richard Madden and Kit Harington, it's one of four MCU movies set to drop in 2021 — alongside Black Widow, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and the latest Spider-Man flick. It's also Zhao's first feature after the vastly different film that's been winning her so much praise this year, as well as her first leap into the blockbuster realm. And, if you're wondering what to expect, Marvel has just revealed its first sneak peek. A full trailer hasn't been released as yet, but Marvel has unveiled a celebratory clip that champions the movie-going experience now that cinemas are getting back into the swing of things in the US, and it includes snippets of footage from Zhao's upcoming film. The video isn't big on story details, but the filmmaker's visual sensibilities shine through — even though she's working on a far bigger scale than seen in her first three movies. The Marvel clip also shouts out to a heap of other big MCU movies that are headed to the silver screen in the coming years, should you need a reminder. The aforementioned Black Widow arrives on July 8, and will be available on streaming at the same time as well, before Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings drops in theatres only on September 2. Next comes Eternals on October 28, then Spider-Man: No Way Home in December. In 2022, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is due in March, Thor: Love and Thunder in April, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever in July and Captain Marvel sequel The Marvels in November. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania hits in February 2023 and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 in May the same year, while the clip also teases a new Fantastic Four movie. Check out the celebratory Marvel video below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lW6MegWambc&feature=youtu.be Eternals opens in cinemas Down Under on October 28.
Heads up, Mother's Day is just one week away. Yep, you can pucker up on our tootsies later. But there's pressie planning afoot, and we've found quite the showstopper for your dear ol' Mumsie this year thanks to Gelato Messina. Never one to miss an opportunity to experiment with new ways to inhale gelato, Messina have been cooking up quite the delicate novelty dessert for Mum: a Italian-inspired chocolate box of gelato-filled nibbles. Each box comes with 12 handmade chocolate and gelato bon bons; best enjoyed with opera blaring in the background, with a strong, black cup of coffee and a shoulder massage. Go on, your mum put up with you through puberty, you owe her one massage. So which crazy tell-your-friends flavours have Messina come up with for their bitty bon bons? There's six in total, each more decadent than the last: blood peach sorbet with rosewater gel, roasted banana gelato with white chocolate ganache, mandarin puree with salted butter caramel gelato, hazelnut and coffee gelato with roasted hazelnuts, wild strawberry sorbet with pistachio praline and (wait for it) shiraz sorbet with dark chocolate ganache and popping candy. If you can find us something that says 'perfect Mother's Day gift' better than shiraz sorbet bon bons, we'll eat this empty bon bon box. The Messina chocolate and gelato bon bon boxes are going for $39 a box (with a cute little card), available to order from Monday, May 4. They're available for collection from May 8-10 from Darlinghurst, Miranda and Parramatta stores in Sydney, as well as the Fitzroy and Coolangatta stores.
Over the past few years, Gelatissimo has whipped up a number of creative flavours, including frosé sorbet, ginger beer gelato, Weet-Bix and fairy bread varieties, hot cross bun gelato and even gelato for dogs. For its latest offering, the Australian dessert chain is taking inspiration from other sweet treats — in case you can't choose between tucking into a frosted cinnamon scroll or licking your way through a few scoops of ice cream. Yes, that very combination is now on the menu, all as part of Gelatissimo's deluxe range. Just launching this week, its frosted cinnamon scrolls flavour is made from cinnamon, vanilla and cream cheese gelato. It's then filled with chunks of soft cinnamon scrolls and topped with cream cheese icing, with the scrolls and icing made by Sonoma Baking Company. Gelatissimo has also added a fudgy choc chunks and raspberries flavour as well, which is exactly what it sounds like. You'll bite into chocolate and raspberry gelato, then find whole chocolate fudge chunks made by Yarra Valley's Fudge by Rich inside. It also comes with a thick chocolate sauce made from cocoa butter, as well as a raspberry sauce. The two newcomers join a lineup that already includes double choc brownie, cookie dough, choc-dipped strawberries and New York cheesecake, should your dessert-loving tastebuds need a few more mashup options. Gelatissimo's deluxe range focuses on chunky gelato made with locally sourced ingredients — and while the two new flavours are now available nationwide, they're only on offer for a limited time, although the chain hasn't specified an exact period. Gelatissimo's frosted cinnamon scrolls and fudgy choc chunks and raspberries gelato flavours are available from all stores nationwide for a limited time.
If you've ever had a hunch about a company that's gone on to make it big, or you think you can predict the future, you might have considered investing in the stock market. One way you can do this — without dropping a heap of cash — is by trying out Superhero, a new Robinhood-style trading platform, which has super-low fees and an easy-to-understand dashboard that lets you monitor the progress of all your stocks. Backed by the founders of Afterpay and Zip Co, Superhero offers Australia's cheapest brokerage fee of just $5 per trade. Plus, it lets you invest in ETFs (Electronic Traded Funds) and pay no brokerage fees at all, and has a $100 minimum investment — so you don't have to be moneybags to get started. While the website won't turn you into Eddie Morra (aka Bradley Cooper) from Limitless, it will let you pretend you're that good, with tips on how to spot the next big thing. At the moment, three of the most-traded shares on its platform include Zip Co, an Australian buy-now-pay-later company (think Afterpay); Brainchip, an artificial intelligence company; and Emerge Gaming, an e-sport platform. All three have seen their share prices grow between 43 and 620 percent in the last 12 months. Superhero itself has been super popular, too, with the Australian Financial Review reporting that a whopping 10,000 Aussies signed up in its first three weeks. If you want to try it out for yourself, you can sign up to Superhero for free over here. FYI, this story includes some affiliate links. These don't influence any of our recommendations or content, but they may make us a small commission. For more info, see Concrete Playground's editorial policy.
So much about The Many Saints of Newark is a matter of when, not if: when familiar characters will show up looking younger, when well-known New Jersey locations will be sighted and when someone will eat ziti. This all occurs because it must; it wouldn't be a prequel to The Sopranos otherwise. Servicing fans is a key reason the movie exists, and it's far more resonant if you've already spent 86 episodes with Tony Soprano and his mafia and blood families while watching one of the best TV shows ever made. This is a film with a potent air of inevitability, clearly. Thankfully, that feeling reaches beyond all the obligatory nods and winks. That some things are unavoidable — that giving people what they want doesn't always turn out as planned, and that constantly seeking more will never fix all of life's woes, too — pulsates through this origin story like a thumping bass line. And yes, on that topic, Alabama 3's 'Woke Up This Morning' obviously gets a spin. Penned by The Sopranos' creator David Chase and series alum Lawrence Konner, and helmed by veteran show director Alan Taylor, The Many Saints of Newark doesn't merely preach to existing devotees, even if they're the film's main audience. Marking the last of the big three 00s-era prestige US cable dramas to earn a movie spinoff — following El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie and Deadwood: The Movie — the feature is aware of its own genesis and of gangster genre staples in tandem. Casting Ray Liotta, who'll forever be associated with Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas, was always going to show that. Travelling back to the 70s, when The Godfather franchise electrified cinema, does also. Indeed, The Many Saints of Newark plays like a hybrid of pop culture's three most influential and essential mob stories. A bold move, it also explains what works and what falters in a film that's powerful and engaging but firmly baked in a well-used oven. The first detail that Sopranos fans should've picked up when this flick first got a title: in Italian, many saints translates as moltisanti. While The Many Saints of Newark spends time with young Tony as a pre-teen in the late 60s (played by feature first-timer William Ludwig) and a teen in the early 70s (when The Deuce's Michael Gandolfini, son of the late, great James Gandolfini, steps into the character's shoes), its protagonist is Dickie Moltisanti (Alessandro Nivola, The Art of Self-Defense). He's seen as an uncle and mentor by Tony, who'll eventually hold the same roles for Dickie's son. The Sopranos mainstay Christopher Moltisanti (Michael Imperioli, One Night in Miami) turns narrator here, in fact, offering knowing voiceover that occasionally channels the show's dark humour — calling out Christopher's death at Tony's hands, for instance. Dickie was recalled with reverence in the series, yet threw a shadow over Tony's middle-aged mob-boss malaise — as seen in his duck obsession, panic attacks and reluctant chats with a psychiatrist. Here, Dickie falls into a similar pattern with his dad 'Hollywood' Dick (Liotta, No Sudden Move), who returns from Italy to subject his new, much-younger bride Giuseppina (Michela De Rossi, The Rats) to domestic violence. One of The Many Saints of Newark's finest traits is its layering, honing in on cycles that keep echoing through generations as it examines Dickie's role in turning Tony into the man viewers watched from 1999–2007. Its greatest stroke of casting plays with the same notion as well, and the younger Gandolfini is a soulful yet primal revelation. To call his performance lived-in is the epitome of an understatement, and it's never a gimmick. Nivola is equally masterful, especially given that Dickie is torn in almost every way he can be. He abhors his father's treatment of Giuseppina with Oedipal fury, but also has a psychopathic temper. Part of the DiMeo crime family, he runs numbers in Newark with help from his football pal Harold (Leslie Odom Jr, Music), but all his cronies — Tony's father Johnny (Jon Bernthal, Those Who Wish Me Dead) included — couldn't be more overtly racist. The Many Saints of Newark uses the 1967 Newark riots about systemic prejudice as a defining event, too, although it's often treated as window dressing. One particularly spectacular shot sees Tony spy the resulting flames from his bedroom window, and Harold is mobilised to start his own gambling racket afterwards, but that's about as deep as the movie delves on the subject. It has other things to ponder in its tale about family, crime, loyalty, life and death, as Dickie is just as conflicted about Tony's future. Regarding the latter, The Many Saints of Newark takes a few cues from Breaking Bad prequel series Better Call Saul, with its origin story also a tragedy because we know the only place it can lead to. That's one reason the film blisters with emotion, even if the same standard gangster narrative could've easily been told without any ties to The Sopranos. It's also why all of the expected references feel a bit like a game of spotting the nudges in the moment — including Vera Farmiga (The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It) as Tony's mother Livia, Corey Stoll (Scenes From a Marriage) as his uncle Junior, and John Magaro (First Cow) and Billy Magnussen (Made for Love) as his future sidekicks Silvio and Paulie — but ultimately add authority. Still, in a world where The Sopranos changed TV forever — every television drama has been indebted to the groundbreaking HBO series for the past two decades — The Many Saints of Newark is also the most basic version of the film that plenty have dreamed about since a certain fade to black. It delivers what it sets out to, not just in resurrecting Tony by venturing backwards, but also in fleshing out backstory, grappling with recognisable themes and musing on generational repetitions. It serves up two stellar core performances, as set against handsome period staging. It's a fine-looking movie all-round, and its blue palette conveys a sense of sorrow that perfectly suits its task. But it treads in heftier footsteps and knows it — and while that's part of its message, it's a bit like snacking on gabagool after a hearty, life-changing serving of pasta.
When a song speaks to you — and when it seems like it's speaking only to you — it's one of life's great pleasures. Everyone has a track, album or artist that achieves that feat, and British journalist Sarfraz Manzoor is no different. Born in Pakistan, immigrating to Britain when he was a child and constantly feeling out of place in the southeastern town of Luton, he found solace in one of the big music stars of the 80s. Bruce Springsteen's hit tunes might be so steeped in American life that they've virtually become synonymous with it, but they also captured exactly how Manzoor felt as an outcast teen in the UK. Introduced to The Boss by a school classmate who told him that "Bruce is a direct line to all that was true in this world", he's since seen his idol live more than 150 times, and turned his transformative connection to the singer into a memoir. With music-led movies echoing across cinemas everywhere of late, adapting this superfan story into a sweet coming-of-age film was inevitable. That said, with Manzoor helping to pen Blinded by the Light's screenplay, the resulting picture has a more personal and authentic air — than Beatles-centric flick Yesterday and its manufactured "what if?" hypothetical, than big biopics Bohemian Rhapsody and Rocketman, and than forthcoming George Michael-focused festive rom-com Last Christmas as well. But, these types of movies still love a formula. With a soundtrack of well-known songs to bop along to, there are obvious beats to hit. Films about adolescent outsiders struggling for acceptance are also known to favour a template, which leaves Blinded by the Light feeling familiar several times over. Before he discovers songs such as 'Hungry Heart', 'The River', 'Thunder Road' and 'Born to Run', Javed (Viveik Kalra) — Manzoor's on-screen surrogate — splits his time between trying to meet his dad's (Kulvinder Ghir) expectations and channelling his general angst into his writing. His fiercely traditional father wants him to study hard, get a good job and have a better future than his own, but penning poetry and lyrics for his best friend Matt's (Dean-Charles Chapman) New Wave band stokes Javed's creative fires. Then, fellow South Asian student Roops (Aaron Phagura) lends him cassettes of Born in the USA and Darkness on the Edge of Town. Instead of being tired and bored with himself, Javed is suddenly dancing not just in the dark, but through life. Finding parallels between Springsteen's songs about working-class troubles, his own family's experiences as rare people of colour in a white, unwelcoming and often openly racist neighbourhood, and his dad's factory-job woes in Thatcher's Britain, the 16-year-old feels as if everything has changed. Matt laughs (partly because his own father, played by scene-stealer Rob Brydon, also loves Bruce), and no one at home understands — but soon Javed is asking out the girl (Nell Williams) he likes, writing essays about Springsteen and making a pilgrimage to his idol's home town. If underseen 2016 charmer Sing Street had used The Boss's music, rather than original tunes, it might've turned out something like this. Or, if Bend It Like Beckham filmmaker Gurinder Chadha had swapped soccer for Springsteen… actually, in a broad fashion, that's basically what does happen here. Directing, as well as co-writing with her frequent collaborator Paul Mayeda Berges and, of course, Manzoor, Chadha lets Blinded by the Light play out like a classic rock ballad that audiences already know inside and out. Perhaps that's by design, and not just because it suits Manzoor's real-life story. After the tenth or so spin, favourite songs keep resonating because they've become such an easy source of comfort — a sensation that, by sticking to all the usual music-focused and coming-of-age conventions, this agreeable movie mimics. While viewers are tapping their toes to a jukebox full of Springsteen tracks, and watching Javed navigate a predictable but pleasant path, Blinded by the Light has a clear aim. Even if you're not obsessed with The Boss and his anthems, music speaks a universal language, or so the cliché goes — and, if you can remember when a song has transformed your life, day or mood, then you can get swept up in the film's warm-hearted embrace. Chadha's purposefully amateurish musical-style sequences help, visibly translating Javed's passion to the screen. As the teen and his pals run around town while Springsteen tunes play, their enthusiasm proves infectious. Blinded by the Light plasters that feeling across its frames, weaving it into a likeable, albeit highly recognisable tale about finding your voice after first finding someone else's. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ond9SLcHX4Q
While Redfern has retained a sense of inner-city grit, the area is undeniably becoming more upscale — especially when it comes to wining and dining. These days, it has a rooftop bar, a corner wine bar, a ramen joint with a line snaking out the door and now Southside Charmers: a cafe with a retro-Miami vibe by the team who brought us Scout's Honour and Morris (before selling them both) as well as local wine bar Bart Jr. Taking over the much-loved Eathouse Diner's digs on Chalmers Street, Southside Charmers has kept with the Americana theme, but adding a fresh lick of paint and some kitschy nods to 70s Miami. The 50-seater space (with an additional 20 seats outside) is a lively, colourful and full-of-character diner. "It's a little bit Golden Girls-y," says Southside co-owner Anne Cooper. "A very breezy, light and bright interior with a little bit of kitsch and a little bit of fun." [caption id="attachment_718525" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Kitti Gould[/caption] Opening in early April, the venue is the brainchild of Cooper and Georgia Woodyard, with Georgie Easdale in the kitchen and Ryan Butler (Restaurant Hubert) leading the front of house. As locals, Cooper and Woodyard were driven by the desire of filling a culinary gap in their neighbourhood. It's the kind of place you'll find Redfern locals rubbing shoulders with a more transient crowd on weekends — a neighbourhood go-to. "We just look at what's missing," says Cooper. "We always want to create something that we would want to go to and where our friends would want to hang out." Following a produce-focused ethos, Woodyard — the "kitchen queen" of the pair — has developed a fresh, flavourful menu inspired by a trip they took around Mexico a few years back and the cuisine's influence on Miami and southern Cali. Dishes like the Pablo Rice Bowl with mushroom, chorizo, greens and egg, Woodyard's take on a Cuban sandwich and breakfast tacos of scrambled egg, smoky black beans, charred corn and roasted pumpkin are obvious nods to the Latin American influence. Meanwhile, the Eggplant Pahi Scramble and the coconut, turmeric and buckwheat granola are more in line with the duo's former cafes, Scout's Honour and Morris. "It's not a Mexican restaurant, it's just our flavour profile for here," insists Cooper. "It's also a point of differentiation to Bart, which has more of a European palate." [caption id="attachment_718506" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Kitti Gould[/caption] As well as nourishing food, expect fresh juices, well-executed smoothies, kombucha and Five Senses coffee alongside some brunch cocktails — including espresso martinis, bloody marys and, of course, southsides —a predominantly natural wine list and some boutique local brews hand-picked by Cooper. Currently open for breakfast and lunch (with booze available from 10am), Southside will soon be extending its hours to dinner from Thursday to Saturday, offering a relaxed, fun and boozy spot for any time of day. Southside Charmers is located at 306 Chalmers Street, Redfern and is currently open from 7.30am–3pm Tuesday through to Friday and from 9am–3pm on Saturday and Sunday. Dinner service is expected to be open soon Thursday to Saturday. We'll keep you updated with details. Images: Kitti Gould.
Two kinds of people make it into tabloids. The first are celebrities, and the second are non-celebrities in extraordinary (particularly: sexy) circumstances. Those in the latter category are sometimes genuinely interesting, and you'll never meet more interesting tabloid fodder than Joyce McKinney, 1978's Mormon-kidnapping, sexually predatory Southern beauty queen. Documentarian extraordinaire Errol Morris (The Fog of War, The Thin Blue Line) has tracked down the larger-than-life McKinney and others involved in this now mostly forgotten event for a trip down memory lane. They retell the story of how she came to extract young Mormon Kirk Anderson from his church using a gang of men, a fake gun and a bottle of chloroform and hold him in the English countryside for several days. She claims, as ever, that she was rescuing her true love from a dangerous cult. When found, he claimed he was kidnapped and raped. After a brief foray into tabloid headlines and celebrity parties, McKinney fled back to the US and was convicted of the crime in absentia. Tabloid has in its grasp the two things a great documentary needs: a human point of interest and a way into a deeper argument about the structures that underlie our society — in this case, the structure of tabloid media. Morris could actually stand to pry a little further into the scandal-fuelled news machine. After what went down at News of the World, we're certainly hungry for the insight. Fortunately, the human interest at the centre of the story is of mammoth proportions. McKinney is charming, intense, and entirely convinced of her view of the facts. She has gone on to live a life of celibacy on a Wyoming country estate with four cloned dogs. Seriously. Morris keeps things fun and gripping, with hyperactive editing to aid the attention deficient. The effects of his patented 'Interrotron' system are palpable: relaxed and engaged interviewees seem to look down the barrel of the lens and address you while they are, in their reality, looking at and addressing Morris. Unfortunately and understandably, the Mormon at the centre of it all is not one of these interviewees. Anderson refused to be interviewed for Tabloid, so the task of arguing his case, that he was kidnapped and raped, falls to journalists and other onlookers. It gives McKinney's story perhaps more credence than it deserves, and some may justifiably find this off-colour. Still, if you're open to hearing out someone who is quite possibly a deranged sexual offender, this story is one that will bewilder, challenge, and prompt a conversation on how we think about consent. https://youtube.com/watch?v=B5FcZrg_Nuo
Built in 1793 for wool farmer John Macarthur and his wife, Elizabeth, this retreat is one of the oldest houses in Australia. It has since been transformed into a hands-on museum where you can access all areas, touch the furnishings and generally make yourself at home. There's an old-school tea room that serves up sandwiches, Devonshire tea and baked treats, but you're also welcome to bring a picnic, borrow a picnic blanket and relax in the garden, among lilies, roses, eucalypts and veggies. After your bite to eat, you can explore nearby cottages Experiment Farm Cottage and Hambledon Cottage, which are part of the same precinct — just be sure to check opening hours and tour information before you go. Image: City of Parramatta
There's more to stunning Jervis Bay than just sunbathing and swimming. In fact, one of the best ways to explore this stretch of coastline is by going for a stroll. We're not saying work up a serious sweat (unless you want to), but you can catch some pretty amazing views on foot. For a gentle stroll, take the White Sands Walk and Scribbly Gum Track. The leisurely 2.5-kilometre loop takes you past the white sands of Hyams, Greenfields and Seamans, as well as through the coastal forest by the shores of Jervis Bay. You can cool off with a swim along the way, plus spot birds and dolphins. The walk takes between 30–90 minutes. Make sure you check the National Parks website for any alerts before you venture out. [caption id="attachment_770531" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Hyams Beach by Tourism Australia[/caption] Top image: Scribbly Gum Track, National Parks NSW
